The Years Of Light And Magic
by ExpectoPatronum777
Summary: The universe had never seemed to work in their favour, but never before had it appeared to work this much aginst them. As Voldemort gains power, friendships are broken and family lost, you can either choose to get dragged down or keep your head high and fight against it. A marauders era story. Rated M for safety. Cover picture belongs to amazing: anxiouspineapples.
1. This Is The Year

**AN: It is ridiculous how long it took me to publish this story, but here I am now. To call this a Jily story might be a stretch, since it** **'s more about the marauders era in general. It picks up at the beginning of fifth year and hopefully continues all the way through school and after that as well.**

 **Also, English is not my first language so there might be a few grammar mistakes.**

 **R &R**

 **/Liz**

 **Of course, I own nothing of Harry Potter. Except for the books in my bookcase, they are very much mine and no one else can touch them.**

* * *

It was the first day of September, not autumn enough for the leaves to turn red on the trees, yet not summer enough for the sun to warm the pavement outside King's Cross station. A car, a small, blue Volvo, pulled up and stopped abruptly outside. A redheaded girl opened the back door, bag over her shoulder and a black cat in her arms. She grabbed the trolley her mother handed her and put the cat inside the cage that her father had placed on top of it. She went in front of her parents through the doors to the station. Inside the station, she pushed herself through the mass of people standing in line to buy tickets, or watching maps, their eyebrows raised in confusion.

* * *

"Lils!" Next thing Lily knew someone was hugging her tightly around her back. She turned around to discover her friend Marlene.

"Marls!" Lily hugged her friend back. "You're tanned! I take it Greece was good."

"It was great." Marlene's brown eyes sparkled. "Except that mum thought she needed to hold my hand every time we went out of the hotel. I was just like 'I'm not five years old'.""

"Where is your mother now?"

"I think she took Ellie to the platform. She had a meltdown this morning when she realised all her kids are 'all grown up'."" Marlene did an not too convincing imitation of her mother's voice. "I don't see how she can think eleven is grown up."

Her parents had caught up with them now and Lily's mother must've heard their conversation. "Maybe you should pay your mother some respect. It's hard to see your kids growing up, and now she will be home all alone too. I remember the first time Lily went away, I cried for days."

"Mum, go away," Lily murmured. She loved her parents, except for when they were interrupting her conversations with their "wise words"". Lily's mum ruffled Lily's long red hair before stepping back and talking to Lily's dad instead. Lily turned to Marlene again with a laugh.

"So your mum let you walk around the big scary train station all on your own huh? She must really be a wreck." If Lily had learnt something from her visits at the McKinnons it was that she was lucky to have parents who didn''t snoop on her. Mrs. McKinnon, on the other hand, wanted to know everything: where they had been, what they had done, who they had met.

"Kind of," Marlene laughed. "Have you heard anything from the others?"

"No. I guess Mary will come running in at the last minute as usual, and Alice is probably on the platform already."

"How much time left until we need to get there?" Marlene asked her and Lily checked her watch.

"I would say ten minutes, fifteen at most."

"Perfect, I need to buy salted almonds." Marlene smiled and dragged a few pound bills from her purse. Lily asked her parents to watch their trolleys as she and Marlene went over to the small store selling candy, magazines and fruit.

While Marlene payed for her almonds, Lily grabbed a few packages of her favourite muggle chewing gum.

"Fruit, huh? I would've taken you for a spearmint girl Evans." Lily turned around quickly at the sound of the familiar voice. Sirius Black stood leaned against the gum shelf, a bag of crisps in his hand.

"What're you doing here Black? Where's Potter?" Lily snapped. During the summer she had almost managed to forget how annoying James Potter and his best friend were.

"Your soulmate is currently paying for our candy."

"Never. Call. That. Arrogant. Git. My. Soulmate. Ever. Again." Lily hissed before throwing the gums on the counter together with the muggle money in her wallet.

"Come on Marls. We need to get to the train." She snapped when she got her change. Marlene followed her out of the store without a word. Her parents waited for them not far from the barrier between platform 9 and 10. Together she and Marlene ran towards the solid brick wall.

"Does that ever stop being scary?" Lily wondered when they were on the other side. "I always expect myself to crash into the wall.""

"Why?" Marlene wondered.

"I don't know…maybe because in the muggle world solid brick walls don't so often turn out to be unseen entrances to other worlds." Marlene laughed and Lily hit her arm. "I'm serious!""

They were almost at the end of the platform when Marlene pointed at Alice, who stood next to a woman looking much like her.

"That's her mother, right?" Lily asked Marlene in a whisper. Marlene nodded. Lily grabbed a steadier grip of her trolley before running up next to Alice.

"Hi Al!" She said before turning to Alice's mum. "Hello Mrs. Fortescue."

"Red hair, green eyes and a bright smile, you must be Lily," Alice's mother sais. Lily nodded. ""It's lovely to meet you, Lily," Mrs. Fortescue smiled at her before spotting Marlene.

"Oh Marlene, you've grown so much!" Marlene gave her an insecure smile. "I said that to Harold just this morning, 'the girls are growing up to ladies', I said. Didn't I, Alice dear?"" Alice hid her face in her hands and Marlene looked happy to get an excuse to get away when Lily's parents appeared in the crowd.

"I guess we should board," Lily whispered.

"Guess so", Marlene nodded in approval. The three girls started lifting their trunks on board the train.

"Lilypad! Can't an old dad get a goodbye before his daughter goes away for a year?" Lily nodded at him and finished lifting Marlene''s trunk up the stairs of the train before walking back to her parents.

"Have a nice term now, honey", he said while he dragged her into a hug. Lily hugged him back before turning to her mother.

"Bye, mum."

"Promise you'll write", her mother grabbed her shoulders, "every week. I want to know everything that's going on in my baby's life. I'll miss you so much.""

"Mum, you'll see me again by Christmas."

"I know but you're my baby girl, I don't want you to go away at all." Her mum looked at her and stroke a hand over her cheek.

"Look at this, our little girl, all grown up," Lily's dad put his arm around her mum and stroked his hand against her back, but Lily could see his eyes sparkling at her.

The train spat out smoke and Lily hastily said goodbye to both her parents, promising once again she would write, before boarding the train together with Alice and Marlene, who had just finished saying goodbye to their own families. Marlene had her younger sister Ellie with herhe tiny girl held Marlene's hand hard as they walked through the corridors of the train. They found Mary in a compartment in the back of the train together with Dorcas Meadows, a Hufflepuff in their year who hung out with them from time to time.

"Hi Dora. Mary." Marlene nodded at the two girls.

They put their trunks on the luggage shelf before sitting down. Lily fiddled with her prefect badge. A feeling she had forgotten about something gnawing in her chest.

What Alice said ten minutes later abruptly reminded her. "Lils, shouldn't you be in the prefect compartment?

"Oh Merlin. Thanks Al!" Lily quickly got out of the compartment and made her way through the corridor of the train.

* * *

As Lily closed the compartment door behind her, Mary turned to the others and asked:

"Who else do you rekon's prefect?"

"I really can't see any guy in Gryffindor nearly responsible enough to get it," Marlene said, putting her bag on the seat next to her and leaning back in her seat. "There is no chance that it's any of the Marauders." she made a pause and waited for the others to nod in agreement. ""And Longbottom is way too shy."

"So you can't be shy and prefect?" Alice protested.

"The only reason you say that is because you've got a thing for Longbottom", Mary told her and ignored Alice''s response that she "did not!". Instead she turned to Marlene. "The only one left is Arnold.""

Marlene had totally forgotten about him. He wasn't really shy or quiet but in the same class as the marauders, he was often overlooked.

"I bet it's him", Marlene said. "I always thought he seemed responsible."

"He's quite good looking too", Mary was quick to say.

"Mary! What do you think Lily will be doing during prefect patrol?" Marlene tried her best sound as if she was actually kidding.

"So she won't take advantage of empty hallways and an attractive guy?" Mary Scoffed, "I would."

"To no ones surprise." Marlene retreated, hoping Mary didn't notice her harsh tone. She was sure Alice did though because she quickly took charge of the conversation. For the next fifteen minutes, the two were engaged in a discussion about whether or not making out during prefect patrols would put you in detention, were you discovered. Marlene leaned back in her seat and looked at the landscape flying past the window outside. Muggle villages separated by yellow fields passed by. Alice and Mary didn't stop talking until three boys bashed the compartment door open and stepped in.

"What's up Marls?" James Potter threw himself flat over two seats, on top of Marlene's bag, and forced her to high-five him.

"Where is your fourth musketeer?" Mary , she too had noticed the absence of Remus Lupin.

"He abandoned us!" Sirius burst out. "he became a prefect! Does he not realise this is dishonouring our entire group? One of the marauders, a prefect?"" Marlene rolled her eyes. Ever since the Hogwarts letter containing Remus' prefect badge had arrived at the end of July, Sirius had seemed unable to think about anything other than the "betrayal"" their friend put them through.

"Remus is prefect?" Mary asked in disbelief.

"You know, that makes sense. He should probably keep these three…" Alice nodded at the boys "…from coming up with too much mischief.""

"Oi Prongs, you hear that? Fortescue's hoping for a calm year."

"Ugh…Sorry girl, this year will be legendary," James smirked.

"This will be the best year of all time. Thousands of years into the future they will not teach us about goblins in History of Magic, they will talk about the epic year when the marauders pulled a prank on every student and teacher in the school, including Dumbledore himself."

"How will you have time for that?" Alice sounded suspicious. "We've got O. this year. You'll need to study your asses off."

"We already know everything." Sirius said.

"Besides, I doubt the Banchory Bangers will care what Transfiguration grade I get. Even if I will get an O because I've got a talent above everyone else's." James talked louder and ran his hand through his black messy hair. Marlene was positive it was because a certain redhead had opened the door to the compartment. Lily walked straight past James, snorted as an answer to his greeting and sat down opposite to Alice. She started telling her about the prefect meeting. Marlene saw James looking at her from the corner of his eye while listening to Sirius, who talked about their epic end-of-the-year prank. Marlene had already heard these plans multiple times during the summer holidays and her mind started to wander before Sirius had even gotten to the part where Severus Snape slipped down the main stairs, helped by a puddle of wet water.

"Okay guys, we should keep moving. If we're pranking everyone we better get started. I think we can finish off a good three compartments before lunch." Marlene hadn't noticed Sirius had finished.

* * *

They entered their own compartment in the very back of the train and Sirius closed the door in the face of a dozen girls. It took another few minutes, during which Sirius managed to fall flat on his stomach when the train made a sharp turn, before Remus appeared in the compartment door.

"Picking blueberries, are you?" Remus asked as he simply walked over Sirius on the floor.

"This was on purpose." Sirius growled and pushed himself into a sitting position. Rolling his eyes, Remus sat down next to Peter.

"So, what did you do at your meeting with the enemies?" Sirius crossed his arms and stared at Remus.

"You make it sound like I joined You-Know-Who."

"You could as well have done. The things they stand for are as opposite to us as what the prefects stand for", Sirius was still on the floor, now leaned against the door with his arms folded. Remus opened his mouth to answer but was cut short.

"Who else is prefect?" Peter asked. Clearly, he too spotted the argument about to break out. James knew Sirius didn't mean what he said and he knew Remus knew that too.

"Evans is the other one from Gryffindor. Aubrey and Bones from Ravenclaw, Jones and Cattermole from Hufflepuff, Greengrass and Bulstrode from Slytherin", Remus counted on his fingers.

"Aubrey got it?" Sirius looked upset "that pompous, cocky idiot that thought he could beat us in quidditch?""

"That's him."

Sirius looked like he was about to say something, but the food trolley rolled up outside of the door and he closed his mouth again.

"Anything from the trolley to my troublemakers?"

James smiled at the middle-age lady rolling the trolley in front of her.

"We'll take the usual Trace", Tracy nodded started taking out one sweet after another and handing to James who put it down on the table by the window. Remus looked puzzled when she handed him a chocolate cake and started searching his pocket to pay her but she waved her hand at him.

"It's on me", she said, smiling at him.

"Oh, well, thanks then," he said quietly.

"So, Lily's prefect?" James asked when she had shut the door and the she started pushing the trolley back towards the front of the train.

"Prongs wants you to convince Evans to go out with him", Sirius told Remus, even though James was sure Remus had caught that. "Because he simply can''t pluck up the courage to ask her himself."

"That might be an impossible task", Remus shrugged, "I heard her talk to Hestia after the meeting, discussing how to best catch you in action so she could put you 'where you belong'"

"Oh how can she Prongs! You're so tall and talented and handsome and a quidditch star." Sirius joked while shuffling in the last piece of cauldron cake in his mouth. He, Remus and Peter laughed loudly.

"Shut up." James snorted, not finding the joke as funny as the others.

They spent the rest of the afternoon playing Exploding Snap, with the outcome that Sirius lost both his eyebrows. When the cards set fire to Peter's clothes for the third time they decided to stop before setting something of value on fire. Big rain clouds had gathered in the sky that, for once, had been cloudless when they left London. Now the rain smashed against the top of the train.

"You know, we should go for a walk, see if we can find some Slytherins to mess with." James suggested after a few minutes' silence. Sirius brightened and stood up, while both Remus and Peter appeared to sink lower in their seats.

"They're in the front of the train." Remus looked a little guilty having let this slip, knowing what would happen, but once it was out in the air he didn''t seem to mind.

"Excellent!" Sirius burst out and opened the compartment door. "Come on everybody.

* * *

Lily was on her way back from Professor Slughorn's lunch when Severus ran up by her side.

"Can we talk?" he asked shortly.

"Sure. Why don't we go to the prefect compartment? I rekon it's empty by now." Lily didn't feel like talking to Severus in the corridors where there was a big chance one of his friends would walk past. Lily wasn't ashamed of her background but it wasn't a lot of fun to have "mudblood" shouted after her. Severus nodded and followed her as she made a full turn around and started walking towards the front of the train.

Shutting the door closed behind them, she turned to him.

"What do you want?" She asked.

"You avoided me all summer." He told her firmly, for once going straight to the point.

"Sev, you know as well as I do that's not how it was. Your mother doesn't want to see me after your father took off, and Petunia won''t let you into our house."

"You went away a week after we got home, Melin knows where. I was worried."

"I went to Marlene for a week", Lily told him. Severus looked questionably at her, "Marlene McKinnon, she''s a Gryffindor in the same year as us and she's been my friends since first year." Lily clarified and just managed not to sigh at the fact that Severus didn''t have a clue who her friends were, "And when I got back you were gone."

"Since you went away without saying a single word there was no need to hang around in that fucking town anymore."

"Where did you go?"

"To Rosier. his parents were away over the summer. Everyone was there. Mulciber, Avery, Bulstone, Lestrange…"

"I don't want to hear the names of every future death eater," Lily snapped. Most of the time she would try to ignore who her best friend hung out with, mostly because he avoided mentioning them, but when he made a point of naming them one by one it was hard to overlook. Lily knew what path they were all going down. She also knew the Lestrange brothers had graduated years earlier and odds were they had already been recruited. Severus didn't reply. Instead he headed for the door and of the compartment. Lily followed close behind him. They must've been close to the end of the journey because the corridors were mostly empty. Lily intended to go straight back to the compartment and change into to her robes. That was until she saw a light flash in a compartment nearby.

"Merlin, they're dueling", Severus murmured and hurried towards the compartment. Lily followed, thinking she had a great idea of who else was in there.

The compartment was way too small for the chaos inside. Everyone was standing and curses were flying in all directions. Lily ducked to avoid a purple flash of light and then turned to face Severus, only to find he was not there anymore.

"Sectumsempra!" Lily didn't have time to see who had thrown the spell. A moment earlier the compartment had been full of noise, now you could hear a needle drop. Even though Lily was quite tall for her age she had to stand on her toes to see what was happening. The sight made loose her balance and she stumbled backwards, falling down on her foots again. Recovering, she pushed herself through to the front of the crowd. Sirius was on the floor, in a puddle of blood.

It was dead quiet still, no one wanting to be the first one to speak. James fell onto his knees and pulled Sirius onto his lap, the latter's eyes flickered and then closed again. As some of the slytherins slipped out of the compartment and the once still there had turned away from the scene, occupying themselves with something else, Lily realised no one else was going to help and slowly she bent down next to James.

"Lily, do something." James pleaded. Lily looked at him for a moment, surprised at the use of her first name, before collecting her thoughts and speaking.

"We need to get him looked over by someone," Lily said, straightening again and trying her best to keep her voice calm. "Will you lift him up?""

James nodded and carefully he used his wand to levitate Sirius from the ground. Lily went out of the compartment first then Peter followed and Remus and James went out last, their wands drawn and keeping Sirius in the air.

Lily slid the door to Professor Slughorn's compartment open and found him in the same spot he had been in when Lily had left the compartment almost half an hour earlier. When they entered he was talking to a seventh year Ravenclaw while sipping from his bottle of mead.

"Hello professor." Lily carefully drew attention to her. "I'm sorry to disturb but…"

"You could never disturb me Lily." Professor Slughorn exclaimed, "What can I help you with?""

"Well…" Lily didn't get the opportunity to finish the sentence before Sirius came floating into the compartment.

"What in Merlin's name happened to him?" Slughorn tried to stand but the train but the train made a turn and he fell down in his seat again.

"They were dueling, Professor," Lily said while Professor Slughorn rose again and hurried over to Sirius.

"Dueling? Why would you do that?" Slughorn muttered while bending down next to Sirius. No one answered and Slughorn didn't seem to expect them to, ""There is a glass flask in my bag, will you grab it for me, Lily?"

Blood was no longer pouring from the wounds and although he looked cleaner Sirius was still unconscious when Slughorn ten minutes later told them they could leave.

"Will he be okay?" Peter asked anxiously.

"I'm sure he will be. I'm going to take him up to madam pomfrey as soon as we get to the school. I think I fixed him but I am no healer."" Slughorn said. "Now I must ask you to leave, we will be at the station any minute now, you don't want to get there without having changed will you?"

Lily though the boys probably wouldn't matter a bit whether they were in their school uniforms or not but she didn't say.

"We're not leaving." Remus said, determently.

"Come on guys", Lily said and exited the compartment, not expecting them to follow her. She hadn't walked far when before she heard footsteps quickly rushing towards her.

"Evans." James ran up beside her. His hair stood up in the back as usual and his glasses was greasy.

"Come here", Lily said, taking them of his face and cleaned them with the sleeve of her shirt. When she put them back on he smiled.

"Thanks Evans."

"We're back to last names then huh?" Lily asked him, not expecting an answer.

"Yeah…I guess."

"What were you even doing in there?" Lily asked. Not sure if she wanted an answer.

"Where?"

"That Slytherin compartment, your git."

"We were bored." James said with a nonchalant smile and ran his hand through his hair.

Lily was surprised by her disappointment. She had, without realising it, started imagining that it wasn't their fault, that it was the other who'd started. Her face heated as she raised her voice.

"Of course. I should've understood. You werebored _._ They hadn't done you anything, you were just _bored_ huh? Gits _!_ " She spat before hurrying away.

She didn't immediately return to the compartment where she knew her friends must be waiting, she had been gone for much longer than expected, instead she locked herself in one of the small loos. What had just happened? She asked herself. Why had she been that upset when she found out something she''d already known? She had seen something in James' eyes when Sirius was hurt and Lily almost thought he could be a decent human being, then he knew his friend was safe and he went back to being just as he always was. An arrogant show off, acting like he owned the entire world.

* * *

The rest of the trip seemed to fly past and before they knew it they were sitting in the carriages taking them up to the school. With none of them knowing if Sirius was okay the air seemed tight and Remus found it hard to say anything. The others appeared to have the same experience because they too were quiet. As soon as the carriages pulled up outside of the school the door smashed open and Marlene rushed in.

"What happened?" She asked "Lily told me Sirius is hurt. Where is he?"

"Breathe Marls", James ordered, "We got into a duel at the train and someone used a pretty nasty curse on Sirius so he started bleeding. He was taken care of though and should be okay. I rekon he will make a grand entrance in the middle of dinner."

This seemed to calm Marlene remotely.

"I'm going to the hospital wing. Who's coming with me?"

James roared agreeing and Peter nodded.

"Okay..." Remus said hesitatingly. "But I will blame it all on you if we're caught."

They stood hidden underneath James invisibility cloak and waited for Marlene who convinced her friends to go to the feast without her. They hadn't been sure whether they were allowed to be in the corridors during the fest but they didn't feel like running into Pringle, the caretaker, who would without doubt find a way to get them in detention either way.

"Okay Moony, get out from the cloak." James told him as Marlene came closer.

"Why me?"

"Because you're prefect. It will look less suspicious if you're walking around the corridors and we can''t fit all of us under the cloak."

"Yeah, I'm known all over Hogwarts for being involved in nearly every prank ever pulled but I'm sure they will let me pass because I''ve got a badge."

"Why can't I just go without the cloak?" Marlene asked.

"Becauce…umh … your mum will kill you if you get detention", Remus could tell James had tried to save the situation, so had Marlene.

"That's not what it is. You think because I'm a girl I can't sneak around. I'm telling you, these shoes are excellent to sneak around in." Remus looked down at her feet. She wore a pair of platform boots; he had not noticed until now that she was almost his length.

"I don't get how you're walking in those things." Peter shook his head.

"Okay Marls, you go then." James said.

The walk through the school was by far the easiest they had ever done. Since everyone was at the start of term feast there was no prefects patrolling. Remus knew that he would now need to be one of the pupils walking the corridors with an eagle eye and keep a lookout for students out of bed and wondered how that would affect his friends.

Quietly they slipped the door to the hospital wing open and peeked in. One bed in the middle of the room had its dividers shut and Remus thought he saw the shirt Sirius had been wearing that day hanging over the top.

"Come on", James pulled off the cloak and walked towards the bed. He moved the dividers and revealed Sirius laying in a bed behind them. He was sitting shirtless against two pillows and his eyes were open. His chest was clean from blood although it was still pink and sore.

"Hey, I wondered when you would come", he brightened up when he saw them.

"Keep it down will you. They don't know we're here." Remus hissed.

"What're you doing here then?" He said, a little quieter this time.

"We wanted to see you were okay, no one wanted to tell us anything." James said.

"I'm fine."

"You sure?" Peter asked "You lost a whole lot of blood."

"Oh that. Madam Pomfrey fixed it in a moment. I just need to stay for the wounds to heal."

"Are they okay?"

"They're fine. She says I will get some nasty scars, but I'm used to that. I'll just tell everyone I fought another dragon."

"When are you getting dismissed?" Marlene asked while producing a bouquet of purple flowers from her wand and putting them in the pot on Sirius nightstand.

"Tomorrow afternoon. I can return to class by Tuesday."

There was a loud bang from a door opening at the end of the ward and James quickly drew out the cloak and hid himself and Remus underneath. Marlene rolled under the bed and Peter took a step to the left so he was hidden by the dividers.

"Who else's here!" Madam Pomfrey yelled from behind her office door.

"No one ma'am", Sirius responded.

"No one? Where are these flowers from then?"

"I fixed them myself, practicing some transfiguration you know."

Madam Pomfrey raised her eyebrows and looked firmly at him.

"You need to rest. I don't want any visitors here. Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am"

"Very well then. I need you to take this potion before going to sleep. It will help your skin

recover." Madam Pomfrey left the ward again.

"I think we should go", Peter said unsurely.

"Yeah", James agreed. "If we hurry they might not have started the feast yet."

* * *

When Marlene sat down beside Alice McGonagall was trying to quiet the chatting students in order to start the sorting.

"Where were you?" Alice whispered.

"Hospital wing. Checking on Sirius, I will explain later." She said shortly before turning around to face the front of the room where McGonagall now had started reading names of a long list. The first year students were dripping with water and looked like they could just as well have swam over the lake.

"Adkins Mabely" McGonagall called and a girl with pigtails came forward. She had the hat on her head for almost a minute until it called out "Ravenclaw!"" Next up to be sorted was "Blaze Alice" and "Bolson Maya"". "Chalk Noah" became the first new Gryffindor and he was greeted with wolf whistles and applause as he sat down at the end of the table.

"McKinnon Ellie." Alice noticed Marlene sat a little straighter in her chair to be able to see her sister be sorted. The hat had barely touched the blonde curls when the hat announced

"Hufflepuff!"

"Well, that was no surprise", Marlene said but Alice could tell she was relieved. Alice were a bit jealous at Mary and Marlene. They both had siblings whom they loved and who loved them back. Alice had always missed someone to play with and talk to when her parents were too busy. Alice even thought Lily, who's sister refused to talk to her, was lucky.

"Welcome, all of you, to another year at Hogwarts." Alice jumped a little at Dumbledore's voice, she had not noticed the sorting was finished. ""I won't bore you with an old man's words, especially since our new students seem like they could do good with some food."

"So tell me now, how was Sirius?" Alice asked when they had started eating.

"He's excellent. Madam Pomfrey patched him up quickly and will dismiss him by tomorrow." Alice nodded.

"Any idea who did it. Threw that curse I mean." Marlene asked, turning to Lily.

"Got an idea. But they were all responsible. It was Black and Potter who started the whole thing." Lily said stiffly, clearly not wanting to discuss the matter further. Instead she tried to start a conversation about what they would learn the following year but Mary was more interested in the discussion about which boys had grown over the summer ("Well there's Black but he's always been good looking although some height never hurts. Did you see Michel Cox though, must've grown 4 inches since June…")

"Lils, your sister's getting married right? What's her fiancé like?" Marlene asked a bit louder than necessary to shut Mary, who was now discussing with herself whether Peter Pettigrew would ever grow taller than five foot.

"He's a charming type. Big moustache and even bigger appetite", Lily began, her voice dripping with sarcasm. ""But really though, he is probably the most grumpy and unthankful person I've even met. Don't know what Petunia sees in him. He spent the first half of the dinner complaining about everything. His work, the government, the banks and the second half telling dad that 'no one will respect you if you're driving that old excuse for a car' and mum that Petunia simply couldn''t have wild flowers on their wedding because 'how would that look? She's having roses, like the rest of my family. He kept going all the way until he went out through the front door and I might have called him an rrgiarsehole over breakfast the next morning. Petunia got really upset and started screaming that I was only jealous because she could get married and not me. I called her a bunch of nasty stuff and she hasn't talked to me since then."

"What does your parents say about it?" Marlene scratched her fork against her almost empty plate to pick up the last mashed potato.

"You know how my parents are. They want us to be friends just like when we were little. They have tried to get us to talk to each other in every way possible. They even forced us to clean the attic together. Do you know how many spiders there was up there?" Lily shivered ""But enough about me, what have you guys been up to? I kind of missed that between prefect meeting and saving Sirius from bleeding to death."

"Okay. Mum wouldn't let me go anywhere all summer; she said something about me growing up too fast. I snuck out at night sometimes. Mickey was a pain in the ass, spotted me one night and threatened to tell mum if I didn''t do his laundry. We went to Greece for the last week, that was amazing, only thing this summer that was." Marlene talked fast and when she was done she took a sip of pumpkin juice from the cup in front of her. Almost at the same time the food disappeared and all the tables were suddenly filled with lots and lots of desserts.

"Well as for me I met a guy", Mary started and Alice could hear Marlene murmur "what a surprise"". "Dad dragged me along to this boring string quartet concert and I was standing in line to get a drink when this guy, hot as hell, walks up to me and start talking."

"Ehh…no offense Mary but this guy seems like a perverte", Alice said.

Mary laughed "No, no! Turned out he was the son of my father's old friend. However, we talked

for a while and then…we didn't talk anymore." Mary giggled.

"Please don't spare any details." Marlene begged sarcastically. Lily glared at her which shut her up.

"So Alice? What were you up to?"

"I bet she was snogging Frank in a forest somewhere!" Mary exclaimed. Alice anxiously looked up and down the table to make sure no one had heard Mary's exclamation, which had been louder than necessary.

"No I wasn't. For your information I spent the summer at our country house with my cousins."

"And Frank…?" Marlene asked, "How''s things going?"

"We're not even together!"

"You will be eventually."

"No we won't, that's not part of the plan." Since Alice was little she had had a plan for her life. She would finish school, become an auror and she had no need to marry or get a family.

"Stop it with 'the plan' for a minute will you? Then you would be able to see the bigger picture, that you and Frank are meant to be.""

"I haven't even talked to him since, like, third year."

"We'd better change that then. Frank!" Marlene cried. Alice hid her face in her hands and wished her friends would stop meddling with things that weren''t their business.

"Yeah?" Frank's voice replied, sounding as if it was right behind her. Alice had forgotten how his voice sounded, calm and reassuring.

"Care to sit with us for a minute?" There was a long silence before Alice felt the bench bend slightly next to her and looked up to see Frank sitting there. His eyes flickered around as if not sure where to look and he kept licking his lips. Alice felt bad for him. She could see how confused and insecure he felt. Alice wasn't the person who started a conversation but seeing Frank that uncomfortable broke something inside of her.

"Hi", she said. Frank looked around and Alice felt a jolt in the depth of her stomach when their eyes locked for a moment before he lowered his glance.

"Hi", He answered.

"Did you have a pleasant summer?" Alice wanted to punch herself for making it sound like she was an old lady.

"Yes", Frank replied shorty, still looking away "and yours?"

"Quite enjoyable", _"What are you talking like Alice? Stop it!"_ she then thought. After that they seemed to have ran out of conversation topics because they both went silent and Alice looked down at her plate, now containing a piece of almond cake. She started ladle it into her mouth to distract herself from the way her head kept spinning whenever Frank was around. When she had finished Frank had left the table and she found that Marlene and Mary for once talked to each other.

"…so cute together!" She heard Marlene finish before she realised Alice looked at her.

"Frank is totally into you", she then said to Alice.

"He is not."

"Excuse me, was you even here a minute ago?"

"He wouldn't even look at me."

"He kept glancing at you whenever you looked away", Lily assured her. Alice didn't know if she believed her. She''d never planned on letting herself fall for anyone, especially not a guy. Ever since she was little she had watched her father rule over her mother and she had decided that she would never put herself through that. She was even more convinced after all the times she had seen her friends crying because someone didn't like them. Though, she wasn't sure for how much longer she could hide her growing feelings for Frank.

* * *

Without Sirius being there and talking constantly it felt like the dinner had lasted for years when Dumbledore finally rose from his chair.

"Welcome back to a new year at Hogwarts", Dumbledore said and smiled "Our new students should note that the forest is called the forbidden forest for a reason and I don't want any incidents involving students inside of it."

James thought Dumbledore looked at him as he said that and James smiled to himself. Last year they might just have sneaked into the forest in the middle of the night and angered the centaurs, all by accident off course.

"This year we also have two new members of staff…" Dumbledore continued "…Welcome professor Terry. She''ll be teaching Defence Against the Dark Arts since professor Whiteside decided to leave us after last year." A young woman at the end of the table waved. She had dark hair which was collected into a bun at the back of her head. "I'm also pleased to inform you that we've found a new caretaker who will replace Mr. Pringle."

"Hopefully someone with a sense of humour." James whispered and Peter laughed.

"Please welcome Mr. Filch to our school", Dumbledore said as a man with long grey hair and hunched shoulders entered the room. A few students who had begun to applaud stopped quickly "Mr. Filch has already put together a list of items forbidden on school grounds, it can be found in his office and includes 286 objects." Dumbledore let out a small laugh and James could tell even he thought this was a ridiculous idea. "Now off to bed with you. You''ve got lessons tomorrow."

Disorder erupted in the great hall when everyone rose from their seats and tried to walk away at the same time. Remus left and James saw him catch up with Lily before the two of them together started collecting the Gryffindor first years. He and Peter walked out of the hall. The corridors were crowded and after managing to squeeze themselves through the corridor on the first floor James slipped in behind a tapestry remembering there was a shortcut there which would take them almost all the way to the Gryffindor tower without walking into other students. When they arrived in the Gryffindor common room it was empty and so was their dorm.

James was putting his and Sirius' quidditch equipment in the wardrobe while discussing with Peter which brand made the best stink bombs when Frank Longbottom and Arnold Whills entered the room. James stuffed the last piece of clothing onto the wardrobes top shelf and then closed the door.

"How's you' summer?" he asked them.

"Great, we were visiting my family in brazil." Frank answered, Arnold shrugged.

"I was at home."

A moment later Remus stepped through the door, almost as wet as the first-years had been when they first arrived in the great hall.

"What happened to you? You look like you got into a fight with the giant squid", Peter commented.

"I feel like it too", Remus voice was straight forward "We were walking up the stairs with the first years when peeves showed up and started throwing water balloons and stink bombs all over the place. People ran everywhere and we had a hard time keeping the first year's together. Lily managed to get them in a line and they kept walking up the stairs while I was caught in the middle of the chaos. Then the new caretaker, Mr. Filch, showed up and gave me a long speech about how this won''t happen anymore now that he's in charge. Then he forced a copy of the list with forbidden items on me before yelling at me for being out of bed."

James was torn between laughter and fury at the new caretaker.

"Sounds like a charming type", he finally said.

"Moony, do you still have that list?" James asked. Remus nodded and drew a folded paper from his back pocket. James took it from him and started reading. The list started out as he had expected it too. Listing all prank articles available for sale and love potions but as the list continued the items on it got more and more ridiculous until it ended at point 286 with the word _"High heeled shoes"_

"He's a total nutter", Peter exclaimed, clearly having read the list over James shoulder.

"Yeah Wormy, now you can't even wear heels to get taller", Remus said and James roared with laughter.

"Don't get to excited Prongs, you won't be able to…" Remus eyes searched the list "…ask Lily out by playing her a guitar serenade."

James lay awake that night and heard how Remus breath eventually turned into loud snores. Since Sirius was hurt he hadn't had time to think properly, now when he was alone with his thoughts he couldn't calm. He was furious, he wanted to hurt the people responsible for his best friend not being asleep in the bed next to his. That spell, James thought, had been dark magic, the person throwing it had known it would cause severe damage. James would never be able to do that; to throw a spell he knew would hurt the receiver. When he slowly drifted off to sleep it was past midnight and James was painfully aware of how tired he would be the following day.


	2. Lean On Me

"Wake up, wake up. We've a whole day of fun in front of us."

Alice felt like she'd barely slept at all when she was woken by Marlene's singsong voice. During the summer she'd almost managed to forget Marlene's habit of being in a terribly good mood every morning. Alice had never mastered the art of jumping out of bed with a smile, ready to take on a new day. She needed at least two cups of coffee before she could even start trying to be pleasant.

Alice creaked her eyes open. The sun shining was through the tall windows, filling the dorm with orange light.

"Five more minutes," Mary grunted into her pillow.

"If you don't get up now I will hex your ears off."

"You spend too much time with Potter and Black, I've always said that. Only they would threaten their friends out of bed." Lily stood in front of the mirror, brushing her long, dark red hair.

"I've got to, Lils, you know that. I've known James my whole life, and if you hang out with him, Sirius is part of the deal. And they're actually nice and funny, once you get to know them."

"Why don't you marry them then? Nice, funny, handsome Black and Potter," Lily said, rolling her eyes.

"Handsome? Did I just hear Lily Evans call James Potter handsome?" Mary sat straight up in her bed, a smile spreading across her face.

"It finallllly begiiiins," Marlene sang and pulled her school sweater over her head.

Alice laughed into her pillow as Lily snorted. Marlene's lifelong goal for Lily and James to get together seemed as distant as ever, and Alice couldn't see how that would ever change. Not only did Lily look like someone dangled a dirty sock in front of her whenever James was mentioned, she also seemed completely oblivious to the fact that James was head over heels in love with her. In fact, the last time Marlene had suggested the possibility of James in any way fancying Lily, she had straight out laughed and told Marlene she was mad.

"Come on, Al," Marlene bent over Alice's bed with her wand in her hand. "Get dressed, or I'll have to make you."

Sighing, Alice threw the blanket off herself and tossed her legs over the side of the bed.

"There we go," Marlene said, straightening up with a smile and putting her wand back into her pocket.

After thirty minutes of Lily not finding her books, Mary complaining about her hair and Marlene running around looking for nothing and everything, they sat down at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall, which had mostly emptied by now.

They had barely sat down before Professor McGonagall hurried towards them. Her hair was combed back in a bun as usual, although Alice thought it seemed even tighter now than before the summer.

"You are a bit late, girls, don't you think? Classes start in fifteen minutes," she said hurriedly while taking a stack of papers and, one at a time, tapping them with her wand.

"We're so sorry Professor-" Alice began.

"It's alright, Ms. Fortescue, just make sure you are in better time from now on."

She continued producing timetables and handed the stack to Alice. "You've got your first class with me so make sure you are on time. I would hate to take points from Gryffindor on the first day back."

Alice examined her schedule. It was like she had expected, longer days compared to last year but all the same lessons and teachers. Except for the new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher.

"I can't believe it, we've got Transfiguration, Arithmancy and Potions today," Marlene sighed. "Apparently, this year has already decided to hate me."

"Hey guys, you heard McGonagall, we really need to get going," Lily said. With the departure of a group of Ravenclaw boys they were the only ones left in the hall.

* * *

"I hate Transfiguration," Marlene burst out when they left the classroom an hour and a half later. McGonagall had spent the first half of the lesson lecturing them about the importance of their O. and given them each a snail to practice the vanishing spell on. By the end of the lesson Alice was one of the few people who had managed to make their snail disappear completely. Marlene, on the other hand, hadn't been as lucky.

After Transfiguration they broke up. Lily set off to Study Of Ancient Runes and Mary to Muggle Studies, leaving Alice and Marlene to walk up the marble staircase to their Arithmancy class. Marlene had never liked, or payed much attention to, Arithmancy, honestly she'd only chosen it because her mum wanted her to. Marlene had wanted to please her. She couldn't wait until this year was over and she could drop the subject and never give it another thought ever again.

She had stopped listening to Professor Vector ages ago and was now doodling on the parchment in front of her. She looked up and her glance fell on Frank, sitting at the other end of the room. His gaze was fixed at Alice; she was beside Marlene, diligently writing down everything Professor Vector said.

"Hey, Al." She poked a finger in her friend's shoulder. "Frank is looking at you."

Alice looked up from the parchment filled with her small, tidy handwriting, "he is not," she whispered.

"Not now, 'cause he saw you looked at him."

"Why would he be looking at me…you're mad, Marls."

"So you don't think he's got a thing for you?"

"Why would he?" Alice said, looking at her own hands. "I'm just-"

"-cute, smart, kind," Marlene interrupted her. "Nah, I can't see why he would like you either."

"Girls, is there anything you would like to share with the class?" Professor Vector asked. Marlene quickly shook her head."Then I would appreciate if you stopped talking. This is a class, not the time to catch up with friends."

Alice turned red and returned to taking notes while Marlene made a mental note to tell Frank he needed to pluck up his courage. She knew Alice liked him, she was just way too focused on her bloody "plan" to admit it.

"As homework, write a one-foot essay describing the magical abilities of the number seven discovered by Bridget Wenlock," Professor Vector told them.

Marlene dearly hoped the library would have some information on it because she hadn't listened to anything Professor Vector had said and she wouldn't take the humiliation of owling her mother and getting another lecture about how she needed to heighten her ambition level.

"I can't believe it. It's barely two hours into the term and we've already got homework," Mary complained when they met up on the way to History Of Magic

"That's how fifth year is, there's no turning back now…" Marlene felt a hand on her shoulder and didn't need to turn around to know who it was. Her brother, Will, had sneaked up behind them. "…half our year had collapsed by April."

Marlene rolled her eyes at him and looked to Mary and Alice, both of whom looked just as sceptical.

"Thank you, Will, for that unnecessary piece of information. Now, would you let go of me so we can get to History of Magic."

"Binns won't notice if you're late. Rumour has it that…" Marlene knew better than trying to shut her brother up so she simply walked away, leaving Will to tell his horror story to a group of second years who passed by.

Marlene sat down in her usual spot in the classroom, waiting for Lily to arrive. When Professor Binns made his usual entrance through the blackboard, Lily hadn't showed up yet, and neither had James or Remus, who was in Ancient Runes with her. Ten minutes into the lesson, when Professor Binns' rambling had put most of the class into a doze, the door creaked open. Lily sneaked in, James and Remus following behind her. Binns didn't seem to notice that his class was suddenly larger than when the lesson started.

"Babbling talked as if her life depended on it," Lily mumbled when she dropped down in the seat next to Marlene. Marlene noticed she looked tense but didn't think much about it. "What did I miss?"

"Don't know." Marlene tried to remember what Professor Binns had said. "Something about giants I think. Just copy from Peter after class." For some reason, Peter was the only one who managed to take reasonable notes of professor Binns' lessons. Marlene's notes mostly consisted of names and dates scribbled down at random. Lily nodded and started scribbling on a crumpled piece of parchment she had pulled out from her bag.

* * *

By lunch, Lily was already wondering how she would make it through the year. They'd already gotten more homework than before last year's end of year exams, and they had thought that would kill them. The teachers' constant talk about the importance of the O. didn't really help her to stay calm.

Lily, Marlene, Alice and Mary were on their way to the Great Hall for lunch when Lily heard noise coming from the corridor leading to the dungeons.

"Go on, I'll come after," she told the others, glancing down the corridor.

"Lily…what are you doing?" Alice's voice came from behind.

"I'm just…" Lily searched her head for a trustworthy lie to tell. "I need to ask Slughorn something. I'll be back in a second." From the corner of her eye she saw Marlene eye her suspiciously, but they still continued into the Great Hall.

Peeking around the corner, she spotted two students with green ties and, in between them, a boy who couldn't be more than eleven.

"These are our corridors; you better learn that, because we won't let you go as easy next time," one of the Slytherins said, towering over the boy.

"I-" The boy began, but he was cut off by the other Slytherin.

"We don't like mudbloods snooping in our corridors."

It wasn't until now that Lily recognized him, but there was no mistaking. Even without seeing his face Lily would never fail to place that black, greasy hair. She couldn't believe him. How could he use that word? How could he think it was okay as long as it wasn't used against her?

Running or pretending she'd never been there wasn't an would be to go against everything she believed in and fought for. She stepped out from the wall behind which she had been partly covered.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

Severus spun at the sound of her voice and Lily thought she saw a slight blush spread across his face.

"Oh…hi, Lily."

"What are you doing?" she repeated, harsher this time.

"We…we were only…"

"What's this, Snape? Is the mudblood scaring you?" his friend asked. Now looking up at Snape, Lily caught a glimpse of his face. Evan Rosier.

"If you don't mind the 'mudblood' would like to talk to Snape alone," Lily said coolly.

Rosier didn't reply. He simply turned and walked towards the Great Hall. The small muggleborn boy hadn't moved an inch and Lily turned to him.

"Are you okay?" she asked. He nodded shyly, his eyes still set on the stone floor, and hurried off.

"What do you think you're doing?" Lily swirled and locked eyes with Severus.

"Come on, Lil. It was just for fun…"

"Didn't look like much fun to me."

Severus started fiddling with the end of his tie and said nothing.

"So that's what I am to you?" she asked. "A mudblood? Scum who should be locked away far from you and your precious little Slytherin friends?"

"No, Lil. Never. I would never think something like that about you."

"You obviously think so about everyone else who's like me."

"No I was just…"

"Please. I can't listen to your excuses anymore. Can you just, for once, tell me what you really feel?"

Severus visibly hesitated. "I can't, " he said, his voice emotionless. Before Lily knew it he had disappeared down the hall.

It wasn't until she sat down at the Gryffindor table, shook her head slightly to answer her friends' questioning looks, and started eating, that she remembered she hadn't taken any points from Slytherin.

* * *

The class entered the Potions dungeon and James sat down at the table he and Sirius normally shared, spreading his things over the deskspace Sirius' cauldron normally would've used. A minute later, he heard a sigh and someone sat down in the chair next to him. Without even looking up he knew who it was. She always had a scent of earl gray around her, and James wondered if she carried teabags with her in her school uniform. She had pulled her chair as far towards the opposite side of the table as possible. James palms started sweating, and he dropped the bottle of ink he was holding.

"Alright, Evans?" he asked, trying to act like nothing as the spilled ink soaked into his sneakers.

"Shut up, Potter."

"I thought you sat with Snivellus."

"Don't call him that. He's my friend."

"Not much of a friend if you'd rather sit with me."

Lily didn't answer.

"As you are very aware," Professor Slughorn began once everyone was seated. "You will take your O. this spring." Next to James, Lily sighed. He looked over to see her leaning against her hand. Wanting to make sure she was okay, he leaned over.

"How's it going, Evans?" he smiled.

"It's fine, Potter." She didn't look at him, and her tone was cold.

"...I will not be able to accept students who get any lower than an 'Exceeded Expectations' on their exam, so sadly many of us will be saying goodbye after this year," Slughorn continued to ramble. Lily's eyes were still glued to her empty cauldron, her face paler than usual and lips tightly pressed together.

"I think that is all for now." Slughorn rubbed his hands together and looked out over the class. "The assignment I will give you today is by far the most difficult potion I've ever asked you to brew, so keep focused. You will find the instructions on page 115 and all ingredients are in the cabinet over there."

James opened his book to page 115, and on top was written "Draught of Peace" in small, tidy letters.

Shortly, the room filled with different coloured vapours. Beside him Lily was working in silence. Her hands moved around the desk rapidly as she prepared the potion and her green eyes sparkled with passion. The liquid in her cauldron were bright orange, just like the book said it should be. James' cauldron, however, was so covered in smoke he couldn't tell the colour of the substance at the bottom.

Slughorn was walking around the room, and when he reached the desk where James and Lily were sitting he released a delighted squeak.

"Lily Evans, you've done it again!"

Lily looked very pleased."Thanks, sir."

"Oh, and you've added something extra. Is it pineapple I smell?"

"It is, sir. And it doesn't change the effect of the potion."

"Very clever, indeed very clever although, of course, I wouldn't have expected anything else from you."

"And…what do we have here?" Slughorn moved over to look into James' cauldron.

"The draught of peace, Professor."

"Is it really? I don't remember the instructions saying it should look like a cloud."

"It's…my personal touch…" James improvised and smiled.

"Very well then," Professor Slughorn sighed. "I look forward to seeing the result. Both of you."

Fifteen minutes later Slughorn told them to get a bottle from the front of the room and fill their potion with it. The smoke in James' cauldron had finally scattered and revealed a baby blue liquid. James was quite pleased with himself. At least his potion was close to the result described in the book. Elizabeth Carter, on the other hand, had trouble getting her potion into the glass bottle since it kept evaporating every time she took it off the heat and Remus' potion smelled badly of fish.

After Charms, the last lesson of the day, they returned to the common room to find Sirius on the couch in front of the fire.

"Finally. I was getting bored," he smiled.

"Padfoot!" James was over by the couch in a few steps. "You'll never guess what happened!"

"You got bit by an animal who doesn't even have a mouth?" Sirius suggested.

"Very funny…" James said. "No, Evans sat next to me in Potions!"

"No way. I think it was the animal, it made you hallucinate. There is no way Evans sat next to you."

"It's true. I saw it myself," Peter assured Sirius.

"What about Snivellus?"

"I think they're fighting," Remus said.

"Okay, new conversation topic. I've got the greatest idea ever. Nifflers. We release them in the Great Hall at breakfast and then when people try and escape, they run into the stink bomb chaos."

"And…where are we supposed to get nifflers from?" Peter asked.

"I bet Hagrid's got some hidden in the forest. We'll ask him."

"Otherwise I bet my dad could get a few dozen from work." Remus sat down in one of the armchairs.

"That's great. And I'll order some stink bombs to Hogsmeade. Madam Rosmerta can keep them in the Three Broomsticks until we can go get 'em."

"I wouldn't like to jinx it but this could be the best prank ever pulled," Peter said.

"Black!" Someone suddenly shouted from behind and then Marlene threw her arms around Sirius' shoulders. "I missed you in Charms today."

"Missed my charm, did you?"

James didn't hear Sirius' answer; he'd spotted a familiar face across the room: David Marrow, captain of the Gryffindor Quidditch team.

"Hey, David!" James yelled. David spotted him and waved.

"Alright, Potter?"

"When'll we start Quidditch practice?"

David laughed. "Calm down a bit, will you. We haven't even got a seeker yet."

"Right," James sighed. "Amanda."

"She's working for the ministry now, I heard." David nodded sullenly.

"Dad said." James shrugged. "She's a nutter though, Dave. Who'd give up quidditch for paperwork."

"Exactly! Thank you, Potter." David looked very pleased. "No one else agrees with me."

"We're a special kind of people." James laughed. "Not everyone's got the determination."

"We need to have try-outs before we can start practising but that bloody Calvin Bulstrode has booked the pitch for the next two weeks, so we'll have to wait until then."

James nodded and David walked over to his friends.

.

"Why don't you try for Seeker, McKinnon?" Sirius asked Marlene, who still hung over his shoulders.

"I'm not good enough for that."

"Are you kidding me? You always beat James when we play in the summer."

"Uh, that's kind of a stretch, isn't it?" James asked.

"You really think I could make it?" Marlene looked at Sirius.

"Sure, McKinnon, you've got talent."

"I'll think about it," Marlene said. "Care if I sit with you?"

"Where are the others?" Remus asked.

"The library, doing homework. I didn't feel up to studying though. It's the first day back."

"Agreed. Why're all teachers total nutters. Homework on the first day…" Peter murmured.

"I take it you had a rough first day back," Sirius said.

"Worst day back ever," Remus confirmed.

"I got to sit next to Evans." James had a hard time not smiling wide when he said it.

"She was not as happy as you about it," Marlene told him. "Spent the entire Charms lesson talking about what an idiot you were."

"What'd I do this time?"

"Unclear. Probably existing a little too close to her."

* * *

Lily stuffed her Potions essay into her bag and turned to help Alice with hers when she saw a small blond standing a few bookshelves away with a pile of books in her arms.

"Dorcas!" Lily cried out, and the girl turned around.

"Come sit with us," Lily said. Dorcas seemed to hesitate for a moment before sitting down opposite to Lily and putting the pile of books down next to her.

"What are all those for?" Lily asked, nodding at the books.

"Transfiguration, we're supposed to write an essay describing the theory behind vanishing spells, and I have no clue." Dorcas' voice, just like her, was tiny.

"Well, I'm no good at Transfiguration either," Lily told her.

"You're no worse than me," Dorcas said.

Alice looked up from her half finished essay.

"You had Defense today, didn't you?" she asked Dorcas, who nodded.

"How's the new teacher?" Lily asked.

"She's really cool. Had us try and conjure a patronus."

"Really?" Alice leaned forward. "That is really advanced magic, normally you wouldn't learn about that until seventh year."

"I know, but Professor Terry thought we might give it a try, given what's coming."

"So she actually believes there will be a war? Unlike that last nutter," Lily murmured.

"Yes," Dorcas said. "She really does."

"That's good." Lily looked at her watch. "I've got prefect meeting soon, I need to go." She threw her bag over her shoulder.

"I'll come with you." Alice stood as well. Dorcas said she would return some books. Lily and Alice exited the library, saying goodbye to the librarian, who pretended she was rearranging a pile of books.

"She's been ignoring me ever since I ate that sandwich in the library," Alice complained when they were out in the corridor and heading for the Gryffindor tower. "Have you got any ideas about Marlene and Mary?" They turned a corner and walked up a staircase.

"About how they won't talk to each other unless it's impolite, or regarding you and Frank? No."

"I just can't stand it. I hate people not getting along."

"I know," Lily replied. "If we tell them to get you and Frank together they might get along, " Lily joked. It wasn't until Alice turned red and giggled "don't" that it struck Lily. "You really like him, don't you?"

Alice hesitated and looked down at her shoes. "Maybe," she whispered.

Lily gasped.

"It's not that big of a deal." Alice assured her.

"For how long?"

"I don't know…since March maybe."

"6 months? How come I didn't know this?" Alice opened her mouth to reply. "And don't come dragging with 'the plan' because that's not the real reason."

"I don't know…I guess-"

"Lily!" Remus came running towards them. "I've been looking everywhere for you. I thought we were going to the prefect meeting together."

"We are, but it's not for another half an hour."

"It's in five minutes, you must've got your time wrong," Remus breathed.

"That's possible." Lily said, searching her bag for the note she had made but it had disappeared in the mess of books, parchments and quills. She turned to Alice. "I'll see you later, okay?"

Alice nodded and Lily set off together with Remus. At the end of the corridor they took a left and Lily suddenly found herself being dragged behind a door she had always assumed was a broom closet.

"Remus, what…?"

"Shortcut," he breathed heavily, hurrying down the steps of a staircase.

After taking countless other shortcuts they somehow managed to be at the meeting on time. It was held in a room which looked much like any teacher's office. Around twenty wooden chairs were placed in a circle in the middle of the room. Most of them were already occupied by 5th, 6th and 7th years. Lily sat down next to Hestia Jones, a fifth year Ravenclaw, who was in the same class as her in Ancient Runes, while Remus found a seat in between Bertram Aubrey and a sixth year Hufflepuff. The head boy, Sebastian Conoway, rose from his chair only a few moments after Lily had sat down and began going through the prefect duties.

Almost an hour and a half had passed before Remus and Lily set off towards the Gryffindor common room again.

"We have patrol together on Thursday," Remus informed her, looking down at the schedule they had been given. "Then I've got patrol with Bulstrode on Saturdays and with Bones on Tuesdays."

"I've got Hestia on Sundays and…" Lily looked at her schedule. "…you've got to be kidding me, I got Mulciber for Wednesdays. I expect that'll be… interesting," she sighed.

"We'll be so busy this year, with prefect duties on top of our OWLs."

"Yeah, we do get to use the prefect bathroom though," Remus said thoughtfully.

"And we can take points from other students, and put them in detention."

"Don't take too much advantage of the situation," Remus said, as if reading Lily's thoughts.

"I won't," Lily sighed.

* * *

Thursday arrived, and so did the Gryffindor 5th years' first Defense lesson. During the past two days, the word of Professor Terry being the best Defense teacher in many years had spread through the castle faster than lightning. It must have been a first for the whole class to be lined up outside the classroom before the lesson started. Professor Terry opened the door and let the class in. All of the benches stood against the walls and created an open space in the middle of the room.

"You can sit down on the floor," Professor Terry told the class as the last students entered. "My name, as you might know, is Jean Terry, but you will call me Professor Terry. I will be your teacher this year and I will do my best to prepare you, both for your exams and for your life once you're out of Hogwarts." She moved through the room and took a book from the shelves in the back. "Now, today we will attempt some very difficult magic, something you usually don't learn until you're in your last year." She opened the book and showed the page to the class. "Patronuses."

Some of the class gasped.

"But, before we get to practice, who can tell me what a patronus is?"

A few hesitant hands rose in the air. Professor Terry gave the word to Alice.

"It is the only protection from Dementors. It is like a shield, consisting of happiness and hope but lacking the ability to feel despair, therefore a dementor can't hurt it."

"Exactly," Professor Terry agreed. "Now, a full, strong patronus takes the shape of an animal, usually an animal reflecting the witch or wizard who conjures it, but an incorporeal patronus, that is, one without a shape, can also be effective in preventing Dementors. Now, if you would stand-" Sirius thought the class had never obeyed an order that quickly before "-we will get started."

Sirius and the other Marauders stood and moved towards the middle of the room.

"To conjure a patronus you must concentrate on one single happy memory, a very powerful one."

Sirius tried to find something in his mind, a really happy memory. He thought about the time before he had started Hogwarts. There were certainly some fairly happy memories from that time, but nothing powerful enough. He thought about when he had been sorted into Gryffindor and his first night at Hogwarts, but quickly ruled it out. He had been more scared than happy that night. Maybe later, when he became friends with James, but that wasn't a single memory, it had happened over time. He finally settled on the time, in their second year, when they had made life a living hell for Mr. Pringle by using a charm that caused muddy footsteps to follow him around. They had laughed so much at the time. Sirius smiled at the recollection.

"Has everyone got their memory?" Professor Terry asked.

The class nodded.

"Good. Now, the incantation is Expecto Patronum, everyone say it together."

"Expecto Patronum," the class chanted. Sirius tried to join in but stumbled over his words. James looked over and grinned at his best friends. Sirius shot him a toxic look.

"One more time," Professor Terry encouraged.

"Eprexso partontum," Sirius tried to pronounce it correctly, he really did, but it seemed impossible.

"Now, take out your wands and spread out in the room-" The class did as she asked. "-hold your wands out straight in front of you, focus strongly on your happy memory, and say the words."

The room filled with noise and movement. Sirius hesitated because, even though none of his classmates had managed to produce anything they, at least, got the words right.

"Expecto Patronum," Remus tried next to him, without much excitement. He looked over at Sirius and shrugged. "There's no idea to try," He sighed.

"Why not?"

"I can't conjure a full body patronus here…in case…"

Sirius understood the implication and nodded.

"Why don't you try it?" Remus asked.

"What's the point. I can't pronounce the incantation, and every memory I can think of is shitty." Sirius shrugged, trying not to sound as hopeless as he felt. "What memory have you got?"

"In second year, when you found out...about my little furry problem," Remus said.

"That is bloody brilliant. I wish I had something like that."

"What's yours?"

"The muddy footstep incident of '72."

"That's good as well."

"Not patronus good."

"Look! Professor!" James exclaimed and Sirius turned. Emerging from the tip of James wand was a shining, white shield. The class had stopped what they were doing to look at James' progress.

"Very good, Mr. Potter." She came over to him. "Keep trying."

"Eprexso partontum." Sirius tried vaguely, waving his wand. Understandingly, nothing happened.

In the horde of students moving towards the Great Hall for lunch, Sirius managed to lose the others. To be honest, he wasn't paying an awful amount of attention to what he was doing. By the end of the lesson he was one of the few who hadn't managed to produce as much as a faint cloud. Sirius had always been top of the class, without putting much effort into it. Now he was at the bottom.

Sirius followed the stream down to the Great Hall, and was hoping to find his friends seated at the table already. However, after searching the table a number of times, he could say for certain that they weren't there. Instead, Sirius walked over to Marlene and Lily, who were talking enthusiastically.

"Hi ladies," he said.

To begin with, they didn't take any notice of him. Then Marlene turned with a sigh and said, "Timing, Black." Unlike Lily, Marlene's lips creased into a smile, although she tried to hide it.

"Oh, was I interrupting something?" Sirius grinned at her irritated face.

"Actually you were," Lily told him. "We were discussing something important."

Sirius shrugged and sat down next to Marlene.

"Did you want to tell us something, or can we go back to our conversation now that you have told us you're here?" Lily glared at him.

"Actually, I was wondering if you'd seen James and the others."

"Not since Defense. I thought they were with you?" Marlene said.

"Nope. I lost them."

"You lost them?" Marlene raised her eyebrows.

"Yes."

"How?"

"I don't know, McKinnon. One minute they were there, the next they weren't. Isn't that normally how you lose things."

"No, that's how things disappear," Lily corrected him.

"Same thing. Well, if you haven't seen them I'll-"

A creak caused Sirius to look over towards the entrance hall. Entering through the door were his three best friends entered, all soaked in water. Sirius laughed.

"Blimey, what happened to you all?" Sirius burst out, once they came walking up the side of the Gryffindor table.

"We got into a fight," Remus said.

"That 6th year Ravenclaw git said she was better than me!" James sounded highly offended.

Sirius knew what was coming,

"She did what?" Lily asked skeptically.

"Said she was better than me."

"And that was the reason you hexed her?"

"I was offended."

"So, you hexed her and then Peeves came and threw water balloons over you?" Sirius asked, mostly to stop the argument about to break out.

"That bloody witch released a freaking tsunami over us…" James said grumpily. Marlene laughed loud and Lily looked like she had just gotten very good news.

"Finally," Lily said in an undertone.

"Come again, Evans?" James smiled.

"I said I will need to dock ten points from Gryffindor for that."

She took her bag and started towards the exit. Marlene followed her, still laughing.

* * *

It was long past curfew when Mary crept through the corridors that night. She was carrying her high heeled shoes in one hand to minimize the noise she made. Her feet walked bare on the cold stone floor. Looking around every corner before she turned it was second nature now, since there were always prefects patrolling the corridors. She was just about to walk up the stairs to the third floor when she heard a noise from further down the corridor.

For a moment Mary hesitated, before her curiosity got the better of her and she started towards the sound. It was dead quiet except for the continuous noise, getting louder every step Mary took.

She suddenly realised what she was doing: she was walking unarmed towards something that, for all she knew, could be a Slytherin waiting to attack. She fumbled after her wand only to cut herself on something sharp on the inside of her cardigan pocket.

"Fuck," Mary burst out on reflex, knowing she had now brought attention to herself.

"Mary?" A voice said.

"Dorcas?" Mary asked, not quite believing it. It was late, and nowhere near the Hufflepuff common room. "Are you okay?" She went over and squatted next to her friend. Dorcas cheeks were red and carried traces of tears. "What happened?"

"Ivy…" Dorcas sobbed. "She…she told me to come with her." Mary tried to recall who Ivy was. A Hufflepuff, maybe the year above them?

"Okay. What happened then?" she asked.

"Lucy met us in the entrance hall… and we went here. They…they told me to wait in the classroom while they went to get something," Dorcas continued, fighting against her tears. "When they didn't come back I thought I would go back to the common room, but the door was locked." Tears fell down her cheeks. "I waited for a long time… And then they returned. There were others with them, two blokes and another girl. Th-they came into the room again, one of them took their wand out, and… and the others l-la-laughed. Then there was a sound… and they thought someone was coming, so they ran. They forgot to lock the door."

Mary's hands shook in anger, and she was about to say something when, suddenly, there were voices and footsteps coming towards them. Mary straightened and drew her wand, ready to hex whoever approached them. She had to restrain her impulses when Lily appeared, the tip of her wand glowing, with Remus following close behind.

"Mary, what are you doin-?" Lily's eyes moved from her to Dorcas, still leaned against the wall, and she stopped.

Mary leaned forward and said in an undertone, "something happened. I don't know what, really. She might be hurt, we need to get her out of the hallways."

Lily nodded, "we'll take her to the Gryffindor tower, until we know what's going on," she said.

Mary linked reassuringly as they walked towards Gryffindor tower. The Fat Lady wasn't happy to be waken up, and grumpily asked them why they were out at this time of night. Lily ignored her question and gave her the password.

Dorcas sat cuddled up on the sofa next to Mary, wearing Remus' grey sweater on top of her thin t-shirt. Her head leaned on Mary's shoulder, moving slightly with every small sob.

"I'll go fetch McGonagall," Remus offered, straightening from the wall he'd been leaned against. "Do you need anything else?" '

Dorcas shook her head, and with the promise to be back soon, Remus exited the room.

Lily sat in one of the armchairs; her pale face and worried eyes mirrored Mary's feeling of unease at not knowing what had happened. . Mary didn't know what to say to make anything better, so she sat quietly.

Mary didn't know how much time had passed when suddenly the portrait hole burst open and Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout came dashing in. Remus followed shortly after.

"What's happened?" Professor McGonagall demanded. "Lupin said someone were hurt."

Professor Sprout was over by Dorcas in an instant, and started to examine her.

"I'm okay... they didn't hurt me," Dorcas said quietly.

"Are you sure?" Professor Sprout asked.

"I think you had better go to Madam Pomfrey, and she will examine you," Professor McGonagall said.

"Perhaps that is wise. However, if you're not in any immediate danger, you could all do with a little hot chocolate." Professor Sprout took her wand out and produced four cups of steaming chocolate.

"Now, Pomona, are you sure-" Professor McGonagall pursed her lips at the cups on the table.

"No potion in the world helps sadness quite as effectively as a cup of our house elves' finest chocolate, Minerva."

Mary almost thought McGonagall would snap back, but she didn't.

"Well then, if you've got this handled, Pomona, I will return to my office. There are a pile papers waiting for grading."

* * *

Lily and Mary chatted quietly as they drank their chocolate. Remus stirred his spoon round and round, looking at the swirls twisting on the chocolate's surface. Dorcas was still sitting on the sofa with her knees pressed tight against her chest. Professor Sprout had pulled up a wooden chair and was waiting for Dorcas to finish.

For the next quarter of an hour they were quiet, before Lily suggested they'd go to bed.

Mary rose from the sofa and embraced Dorcas in a hug before joining Lily up the stairs to the girls' dorm.

Dorcas stood too but, just before she exited the portrait hole, she she turned and hurried back towards Remus.

"Your sweater." She took it off and held it out for him to take it.

"You can return it later. You'll need it, it's cold."

"I'll just forget it. I always forget things." She pushed the sweater into his arms and hurried back towards the portrait.

It wasn't until later, when he climbed into bed, that Remus made the connection; the name Dorcas had rung a bell with him. In first-year; she'd been full of life, always talked a lot in Herbology. She had laughed and used the garden-tools as a microphone for singing Muggle songs. Over the years, she had disappeared into the crowd of students and until tonight Remus had completely forgotten about her. How could that bubbly person possibly be the same as the small sad creature who had been sitting on the sofa tonight?

He thought about himself. How had he been before Greyback attacked him, before they started moving around until they had lived in so many places Remus was sure some of them were abroad? He couldn't remember a thing from that time. Had he once been as alive and happy as the Dorcas he remembered?

When he fell asleep that night his dreams were haunted by laughing girls transforming to werewolves behind closed doors.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back again! Didn't take me too long, did it?**

 **Thanks to those who followed and favourited the story! It honestly made my holidays (and took me through this insuffereable cold)**

 **Until next time… mischief managed**

 **/Liz**


	3. Like The Rain

**A/N: I'm back! Stuff happens and then you don't get a chapter out for a month... but whatever. You're just here to read the story. R &R**

 **/Liz**

* * *

Thick fog covered the Hogwarts grounds and the clouds were dark, telling them there was a great risk for rain, when James and Sirius walked down to the Quidditch field that Saturday for try-outs.

"I don't get why Marrow wanted to have the try-outs so bloody early," James muttered and tried, once again, to rub the sleep from his eyes. But despite his grumpiness at being dragged out of bed at six o'clock he was excited to be down at the Quidditch field again.

They walked through the changing rooms, and for a minute enjoyed the warmth they offered, before entering the pitch. David Marrow stood in the middle of the field with his broom in one hand and a giant umbrella in the other.

"Potter and Black. On time for once." He grinned. James thought this was a bit unfair. Sure, he and Sirius had been late for more than a few practices the last year, but in general they were on time for Quidditch practice a lot more often than they were on time for anything else. "You'll never believe what happened yesterday," David continued. "Burke told me he's resigning. Hasn't got time for Quidditch on top of the NEWTs. Does anyone see me quitting just because we've got some ridiculous exam? So now we need a new Chaser as well…" he sighed. "We can't afford to lose any more training time. Can't repeat last year's fiasco can we?"

Last year they had been crushed by Ravenclaw in the last game of the season and placed third in the end. Slytherin had won the Cup, and they hadn't let the Gryffindor team forget it.

The rest of the team had arrived one by one and was joined by half a dozen people trying out for Seeker. James spotted Marlene at the back of the group. She held onto her broom as if it were the only thing keeping her standing. James waved. Her mouth curled in a nervous smile and she came over to them.

"You came!" James said, patting her shoulder.

"I did." Behind her pale face and desperate clamping to her broom James still spotted the enthusiasm which was usually painted all over her face whenever she played Quidditch.

"Seekers. Mount your brooms and fly two laps around the pitch," David ordered.

"That's my call, wish me luck." Marlene mounted her broom and joined the other people flying. James quickly noticed that at least two of them were flying on school brooms and that a third was looking like he might fall at any given moment. That left only Marlene and two others, one small girl (2nd or 3rd year, James assumed) and a girl in the year above them.

"You know, McKinnon's really got the physics for a Chaser," David said, looking up at the try-outs. "You don't think she'll be interested, do you? I really can't go through this process again." One of the boys on a school broom had just made a clumsy attempt to turn and was dangerously close to falling.

"Are you kidding? She's always wanted to play Chaser."

David lit up. "Great! I'll keep her afterwards, just to make sure."

Half an hour into the try-outs the first rain drops started to fall and soon it was pouring down. James was relieved when David finally called back the ones on brooms, and told the team to gather around him. James, Sirius, Jacob Cooper, Amelia Harris and David, the five remaining members of the team, were crammed under the umbrella. David spoke.

"Eve Shiller, the small blond, is really good." The team murmured in agreement. At that moment a strong wind grabbed the umbrella and threatened to rip it out of David's hand; once it passed and the umbrella once again was hanging steady over their heads David continued. "Has anyone got any protests?" No one did. "Then we will go for her, and get inside before the storm blows someone away. You can go change, I'll finish off out here."

One by one their teammates left the changing room, leaving James and Sirius sitting on the wooden bench. James pulled off his soaked Quidditch jacket and attempted to dry it with a spell. Failing miserably, he hung it on the peg behind him. His t-shirt was sticking to his back, it too being soaking wet from the rain. He cursed himself for not bringing a change of clothes. There were another five minutes of rain smattering against the roof before David entered and was followed by the people who'd been trying for Seeker. Most of them just passed through, others grabbed a bag from one of the hangers on the wall. Marlene was the last one to enter. Her face lit with a wide smile as she rushed over to them.

"I'm Chaser!" she exclaimed. "Burke quit the team and I got his spot!" She forced them up from their seats and hugged them. "I need to shower. Will you wait for me?"

"You need to shower? It already looks like you've been dropped in the Black Lake and had the giant squid use you as a toy," Sirius said, voicing James' thoughts.

Marlene, rolling her eyes, grabbed her bag from the bench and went into the showers.

"I'm hungry," Sirius said ten minutes later when the wooden door separating the changing room from the showers remained shut.

"Didn't you eat just before we went down here?"

"Yeah I did. But that was like hours ago."

James patted Sirius' back supportively and gave him a pitiful, but mocking, smile.

"I understand how hard this is for you."

"Shut up, you don't understand. Imagine how you would feel if a day passed where you didn't get to stare at Evans," Sirius teased.

"I live with that all summer!"

"Yes, and you're so nice and quiet about it. 'What do you reckon Evans is doing now, Padfoot?' 'Do you think Evans is eating cereal for breakfast too.' 'HELP PADFOOT I CAN'T REMEMBER THE EXACT COLOUR OF HER EYES'."

The wooden door opened and Marlene stepped out. Suddenly, teasing James wasn't as high on Sirius' priority list as it had been seconds earlier.

"What took you so bloody long?" He turned to Marlene.

"You're asking me that? Sirius Spending-an-actual-hour-fixing-his-hair-every-morning Black?"

"The world needs to know that even at these dark times there is beauty in the world."

"You may be a beauty but I'm drop dead gorgeous."

Siriu's face twisted into a grimace and James suggested they go to breakfast before he had a chance to wrestle Marlene to the floor because she insulted his looks.

The sky had cleared now, and white fluffy clouds ran over a blue backdrop that minutes earlier had been dull and grey. The sun peeked out from behind the clouds, embracing the grounds in a pleasant light.

"We should try the new caretaker out soon. It's been almost a week and we haven't made him regret coming here," James said to Sirius.

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Sirius asked with a big grin. "Great Hall food fight!"

Sirius smiled even wider. "With Peeves…and water balloons."

"Do you think we would be able to charm the water balloons so that they dye people's hair?" James wondered. "I've always liked the thought of an entire Hogwarts with purple hair."

"You think we can get our hands on some Billywigs?"

"If you only put this much effort into your school work…" Marlene sighed and shook her head, reminding James of both his own mother and Mrs. McKinnon at the same time.

"Marls…if we put this much effort into our school work we would've graduated after our first year…" James ruffled her hair with a smile.

"Graduated? You're thinking too small, Prongs. I think Dumbledore would've made us new headmasters."

James shrugged. "You're probably right."

* * *

Furrowing his brows, Peter looked at the paper in front of him and then at the notes he had taken in class, trying to understand the concept. Beside him on the table were a letter from his mother, a bunch of sugar free sweets (his mum always sent them with the owl, probably hoping for Peter to eat them instead of the real dessert and lose some weight) and his bowl of half-finished porridge. Remus, already finished with his breakfast, had a book in his lap that, to Peter, looked unreasonably thick.

Once James and Sirius joined them Peter knew it would be impossible to get any more work done. He scribbled down a few sentences before putting it back into his bag. He made a mental note to ask Remus for help later.

"We've got the best idea-" James told them while buttering his toast.

"-We'll have a great hall food fight," Sirius filled in. "It would be great if we could mix it up with Billywigs though. Prongs thinks the water balloons should dye people's hair purple. But how fun would it be to give all the Slytherins red and gold striped hair?" Sirius leaned back again and shook the dark hair out of his face.

A few girls turned and looked at him in awe. Sirius, as usual, didn't seem to notice, and if he did he didn't care. Peter wondered what it was like, having dozens of girls gazing after you in the corridors and a room seeming to stop for a minute when entering it.

Peter was lucky if someone knew his name. Often, he was referred to as "Potter and Black's friend". Clearly, people didn't think he'd notice. Peter knew he wasn't as charismatic as James, as handsome as Sirius, or as intelligent as Remus. Anyone who cared to look at Peter did it with pity. Pity for the fat pathetic little boy who followed Black and Potter around.

"Grant was at the try-outs," Sirius said. "I've always thought she and Remus would make a beautiful couple."

"Caroline or Annie?" James asked while chewing his toast. You'd never have believed him to come from a pure blood family just by looking at his table manners.

"Caroline. I called dibs on Annie ages ago."

"You can't call dibs on girls," Remus said, looking up from his book

"Tell that to our dear Prongs who almost strangled Evan's Hogsmeade date in third year."

"That was a mistake!"

Sirius groaned. "You keep saying that."

"Because you never believe me!" James protested.

"Who's the new Seeker?" Peter asked.

"Eve Shiller. Small, blond. I think she's a third year," James quickly concluded. "But do you know what's even more exciting?"

"No."

"Marlene is the new Chaser," he blurted.

"Really?"

"Yeah. Burke quit the team yesterday."

"That's great. She's much better than he was," Peter said.

"She is, isn't she?" Sirius exclaimed.

"So? Will Gryffindor win this year then?" Peter asked.

"You know what, Wormtail, I really think we might. It's a really strong team."

"Now, what are we doing today?"

"You really need to finish that essay for professor McGonagall. She'll kill you," Remus said, closing his book and putting it on the bench beside him

"Nah. It doesn't have to be done until Monday. I'll do it later." Sirius shrugged and poured more pumpkin juice into his cup.

"Later, meaning you'll do it Sunday night, and then take it out on us by complaining about how tired you are all Monday." Peter stated what all of them already knew.

"Watch it, Wormtail," Sirius warned.

* * *

"Do you see the sun?" Lily asked for the fifth time that morning.

"Yes, we've all seen the sun. But I also didn't see the sun this morning, when the rain was pouring down and I was almost blown off the school grounds."

"Shut up, Marls, you're such a pessimist."

Marlene poked her tongue at Lily and pushed her in the side. Lily laughed and pushed her back, sending Marlene stumbling across the corridor and nearly colliding with a suit of armour. They turned the corner and the smile on Lily's face faded somewhat. Alice looked to discover the source walking towards them further down the corridor.

"Lily," Snape said stiffly.

"Hi, Sev."

The name sounded weird in Alice's ears. In what felt like a different universe, Lily had referred to him as Sev, but as time passed Sev changed to Severus.

"Why the hell are you still friends with him, Lils?" Mary put Alice's thoughts into words when Snape had disappeared out of earshot. "He's creepy. And so, for the matter, are his Death Eater friends as well."

"They're not death eaters." Lily's tone changed from cold to defensive.

"They're as good as," Marlene put in. "You've seen that lot? Haven't you?"

"Just because his friends are…questionable, doesn't mean he is." Alice tried to remain positive.

"I don't believe it. He's treating everyone except you like scum," Marlene said. "Yet you're still friends with him."

"And he's bloody ignoring you if he hasn't got something to say," Mary added.

"We're both busy-" Lily tried, but Marlene cut her off fiercely.

"You've said yourself he's a different person now than when you got to know him."

"People can change and still be good friends!" Alice spoke up, more forcefully than she meant to.

"Everyone shut up!" Lily exclaimed. "I am fully capable of making my own decisions regarding who my friends are. I'm not loving each and every friend you have." She glared at Marlene. "But I have the decency to keep it to myself." Her cheeks had gone red and when she stopped she bit her bottom lip and swallowed. "Go ahead, I need to…" She turned and set off the other way. They heard a door slam somewhere behind them and then everything was quiet.

* * *

"Come on, Doe." Mary already stood with water to her ankles when she turned and called after her friend, who still stood on the sandbank, hesitating.

"It's cold!" Dorcas protested.

"It's not." It really wasn't. The warm weather of the past week had made the water warm, even if the air temperature had dropped significantly over night. Dorcas, still hesitant, began taking a few steps towards the water's edge and squealed when a small ripple on the water wet her bare toes.

"It is cold!" She squealed and hurried back up on the sandbank. Mary had already begun walking towards land to force Dorcas into the water when nature did the job for her. The clod on which Dorcas stood gave up and she tripped into the water. Mary couldn't help but laugh.

"It's not funny." Dorcas was in the process of rolling up her jeans, which had gotten wet at the bottom when she stumbled.

"Well, obviously the universe punishes people who do wrong. That's good, it means I won't have to land in detention for giving Ivy and Louise a big fat punch in the middle of their precious little faces."

Dorcas laughed as well.

"Don't get in any trouble for me," Dorcas sighed. "It's not your problem, and it's not worth it."

Mary was about to reply that "Bloody hell it was her problem" when someone called her name.

Mary peered against the sun to see the person. Cody Howard, Mary knew exactly who he was. Ravenclaw, 4th year, but taller than most both one and two years older than him, and the subject of Marlene's (not so) subtle glances for the last six months.

"Yes?" she asked, blocking the sun with one hand and stroking a strand of hair away from her face with the other.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Mary nodded and, putting her hand down for balance, waded towards land.

Once she, after a bit of struggle, stood on the sandbank, Cody lead her away from where Marlene and Alice were sitting in the grass and past a group of chattering third years before stopping by the big oak tree.

"Did you see the notice board this morning?" he asked.

"No…" Mary said a little hesitantly, "what does it say?"

"The first Hogsmeade weekend is in two weeks." Cody bit his lower lip and hesitated.

"Okay." Mary recognized this conversation, it was the one that had come at some point prior to all of her Hogsmeade visits, and she was positive this was no different. She looked over to where Alice and Marlene were sitting in the grass, Marlene looking at them from behind her magazine.

"And I was just wondering…" Cody paused, searching her gaze. Mary quickly looked back at him. "…if you would like to go with me."

There had been an agreement, some time ago, to not mess with each other's relationships. That couldn't possibly apply here? Marlene had maybe spoken to him once or twice. Besides, things were known to never last long with Cody. Mary didn't really mind, she'd go to Hogsmeade, snog him, and move on. Mary would be crushed if she got a chance, that didn't lead to anything. Perhaps, Mary thought, there was a better way to get the message across to Marlene, but then she remembered the coldness and looks Marlene would always shoot her way, and it was settled.

"I would love to." She spoke louder than she really had to, considering Cody was standing right in front of her. If Marlene was going to eavesdrop, Mary might as well give her something to hear.

"Great." Cody smiled. Marlene had been right, his smile was amazing. "I'll meet you in the entrance hall at nine?"

Dorcas still stood in the water, her previous reservations about the cold now gone, watching her with anticipation. Mary had all intentions of returning to her. That was, until she passed Marlene, who huffed loudly at her.

"What?" Mary stopped and glared gown at her dorm mate.

"Nothing." Marlene's eyes were glued to the magazine page. "It's just funny, that's all."

"What's funny?" Mary demanded.

"That you manage to steal the bloke I had my eyes on." Marlene obviously tried very hard to sound like she didn't really care, but Mary didn't buy it.

"How would you know I'm stealing him?"

"Please." Marlene snorted. "You were talking like you wanted the entire school to hear."

"Not that it's any of your business." Mary crossed her arms, "but he was the one who asked me to Hogsmeade."

"And you would just 'love to' go with him?" Marlene looked up. "Since when do you have the slightest interest in him?"

"I won't tell you."

"Then I guess I'll have to say it for you." Marlene snorted. "You don't, and you're only doing this to get back at me for…something."

"So?"

"So! There was an agreement!"

"Since when do staring and sporadic 'hellos' count as a relationship? I'd like to know so I can inform Lily that she is now in a relationship with Potter."

"You had NO RIGHT to do this!" Marlene jumped to her feet, and jabbed her finger at Mary.

"What in Merlin's name are you doing?" Mary hadn't even noticed Alice had left in the first place, but she now returned. Hurrying over to them, she stepped between the pair.

Neither of them answered and, after another moment of silence, Mary turned and returned to Dorcas, who still stood with water to her ankles and watched them.

* * *

Alice was on her way from an exhausting lunch, where Marlene and Mary refused to acknowledge each other, and Alice unsuccessfully tried to force a conversation between the two, when a familiar head of red hair cut in front of her in the corridor.

"Lily! Thank Merlin!" Alice sighed. "You won't believe what happe-" Not until then did Alice get a closer look at Lily. "Oh! Lily, are you okay?" Her friend's green eyes were puffy and her green sweater tear stained.

She nodded and pressed her lips together. "Yes, everything is just perfect-" she spat. Then, stopping and sighing, she continued. "I'm sorry. It's just, what if they're right?"

"What?"

"Marlene and Mary, what if he is no good."

"Who."

"Severus."

"Oh." In light of the past hours' events Alice had managed to completely forget the conversation that took place only hours earlier. "No, no they're not."

"How can you know?"

"Because…" Alice put her arm around Lily. "You've been friends since you were eight and you've always been there for each other. Even if you have grown apart in the last few years you care for him, and he cares for you too. He wouldn't hurt you." Alice reassured her, and she found she believed every word she said. Lily and Snape had been friends for so long, if their friendship had lasted this far, there really didn't seem to be anything stopping it.

"So, what happened?"

"What?"

"You were beginning to tell me something, and I interrupted you."

"Oh, right. So, Cody asked Mary to go to Hogsmeade with him-"

"No!" Lily gasped. "That's the last thing their eh…friendship...needed."

"-and she said yes."

Lily sighed.

"So now they don't talk to each other."

"Please tell me this is a joke," Lily begged. Alice shook her head. "Where are they now?"

"Mary's with Dorcas, and I think Marlene went to talk with James about Quidditch practice."

"So, where're you going?" Lily asked.

"Common room, or something. Preferably somewhere where people act like the people around them exist."

"I'll come with you," Lily said, hooking her arm though Alice's.

The common room was packed with students, sitting with piles of books doing homework, playing chess by the fireplace, and laughing with friends. Lily said she was going to get a book from the dorm, and Alice's eyes searched the room for an empty chair. It proved difficult to find one during lunchtime on a Saturday, which she should've known. However, she did spot an empty seat in a group of armchairs near the windows. It would've been perfect, had one of the other chairs not been occupied by a certain brown haired boy who actually made Alice speechless.

After searching the room a second time and not having any better luck than the first time, she sighed. Not able to believe it was actually her only option, and wondering whether it would be better to just go up to the dorm, Alice started towards the armchair. With her Transfiguration book pressed tight against her chest like a shield, she walked across the common room. She felt her heartbeats must be visible through her sweater. Making sure not to sound like her grandmother, she went over what she'd say over and over in her head again and again.

"Is this chair taken?" she asked, finally reaching the armchair.

"No, sit down," Arnold Whills replied with a smile.

Alice had planned to disappear in her book until Lily returned. However, before she'd reached the bottom of the first page, Arnold interrupted her.

"So, Alice. What's your opinion on liquorice?"

"I'm not a fan." Alice shrugged, not knowing what this had to do with anything.

"Me neither really. Even though I do like liquorice wands, there is something about the way wizards do liquorice. My favourite candy has to be Treacle fudge though. You can't get those in muggle shops so I always buy a ton and send home. My little brother loves them…"

He went on for another five minutes, talking about his grandmother's cooking and muggle sweets, half of which Alice hadn't known even existed. When he, at last, stopped talking, he excused himself and rose from his chair, leaving Alice and Frank at opposite sides of the small table. Alice still had her book opened in her lap and was about to go back to reading it when Frank spoke up.

"Is that _The Theories Of Transubstantial Transfiguration_ volume 3?" Frank asked, leaning forward.

"Yes…" Alice lifted the book from her lap to show him. "I got it from the library yesterday."

"Really?" Frank's expression shifted to something Alice couldn't read. "When I was there yesterday Madam Pince told me it had a month's waiting list."

"She is really picky about who she likes, isn't she?"

"I dropped a book once back in first year and since then she's hated me," he agreed.

"I would lend it to you, but I need it for our Transfiguration paper."

"The one on the Inanimatus Conjurus spell? Do you understand what that is about?"

Alice shrugged. "No, not really."

"Me neither. McGonagall is excellent, but not a great explainer."

Alice leaned forward and put the book on the table between them. She pointed to the part of text that had been bothering her.

"Here, read this. It's not very clear, is it?"

Frank slid down from the armchair and leaned over the book.

"No…" he turned the page and continued onto the next passage. It was quiet for a moment. "Here it is. It's in the wrong chapter really." He pointed to a passage on the next page.

Alice settled on the floor too, turning the book over so she could read it.

"That's weird. What does that have to do with anything?" She pointed to the passage underneath, surprised both that she wasn't completely tongue tied, and that when she spoke she didn't sound like a 90 year old lady who didn't socialize too much and therefore didn't know how to interact with other human beings.

* * *

"Checkmate." Peter knocked the king, smiling proudly.

"Again? That's impossible." Sirius turned Peter's remaining pieces over with his hand and leaned back against the sofa.

"I think the word you're looking for is 'very possible. 'Rather likely' would be correct too." James looked up from his homework and grinned.

"Shut it, Prongs."

James kept grinning.

"Oi, Prongs. Red alert." Sirius poked a finger into James side, harder than James thought necessary, and nodded towards the dorms, where a certain redhead had just emerged and was coming down the stairs. Her lips were pressed tight together, much like McGonagall's when she was annoyed.

"She doesn't look too pleased," Remus noted.

"Must be a nice change that, for once, you're not on the receiving end of that look, Prongs." Sirius grinned sheepishly.

"Oi, she's mad at you just as much as me!" James protested.

"Only I'm not mad about her," Sirius retorted, leaning back. "So it doesn't bother me."

"It doesn't bother me." James looked down at his homework, trying not to look bothered. The others, of course, saw right through it.

"I'm not having this argument again." Remus sighed and Peter, stuffing the chess pieces into the box, nodded in agreement. "I need to go to the library, are you coming, Wormtail?"

Peter nodded and they disappeared through the portrait hole. Later, Sirius, saying something about getting his bag, went up to the dorm and James was left alone in front of the fire. Aware of Lily's presence, he turned his head ever so slightly, glancing over at her. In an armchair, pushed into a corner, she was curled up with a book. Her long, beautiful hair pulled up in a ponytail and even though she still looked quite bothered, she was pretty.

That was the thing about Lily Evans, James thought. No matter what, she always seemed to have a positive aura around her. Maybe it was the eyes? The sofa shifted as someone sat down next to him and from the lack of a comment about his staring, James figured it wasn't Sirius returning. He tore his eyes away from Lily, only to see her friend looking at him. James still would've expected a teasing comment and raised eyebrows at his staring, but they didn't come.

"What's happening, Marls? You don't look amused by my staring at your best friend."

Marlene smiled, but it wasn't filled with the usual bubbly happiness. "A really shitty day, that's all." She fell back in the sofa and rested towards the back.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Nah."

"Wanna go to the kitchen and eat sweets until you're in the bathroom, throwing up from overeating."

"Despite the overly specific details, yes."

The tradition had started long ago, before Hogwarts, when they were playing in the garden at James' house. Whenever one of them would trip and scrape their knees, his mother would take them inside and give them sweets until "all the evil" disappeared. When they got older, they had started breaking into the cupboards and stealing sweets whenever one of them had a bad day. Once they got to Hogwarts they continued doing the same naturally, although it was a lot easier to get treats from the house elves than to sneak around his mum's watchful eye at home.

"Try this one." James encouraged Marlene and handed her one of the apple muffins he had not eaten already. "It's much better."

Marlene took a bite of it and frowned. "You're joking, right? This is okay, but nowhere near the toffee one."

"I don't get it, the toffee one is disgusting. No offence, Tipsy," he added to the house elf who had just arrived, carrying another plate of muffins. "So now, do you want to tell me what happened?"

"It's just Mary…there was this bloke I liked, and she is going to Hogsmeade with him."

"Oh, Howard."

"How did you know?"

"Don't act so surprised, Marls, we both know I know you better than I let on."

"It's just so embarrassing." Marlene looked down, biting her lip. "He's a big tosser really."

"My lips are sealed," James promised.

"You already told Sirius, didn't you?"

"He's my right hand and second half, of course I told him."

Marlene scoffed. "Whatever. Mary already knows, and she would just love to mess with me. The entire school will know in a minute no matter what. Might just as well have Sirius tell them."

"You know he would never do that." James said, hoping he didn't sound too harsh.

"I know," Marlene agreed, sighing. "He's just got that air about him, you know? Like he could do something like that."

"He wouldn't though."

"I know."

"Good."

The kitchen door creaked open and Alice stuck her head around it.

"There you are, Marls." She breathed. "Lily wants you to come."

"I'm not solving anything." Marlene took another bite of her muffin.

"Please, Marls-"

"No. Not happenin'." Marlene looked to James for confirmation.

"I don't know." He shifted in his chair. "It might be good for you to talk it out."

"Sure, take her side," Marlene snapped.

"I'm not!"

"Right," Marlene said curtly, standing. Before James had a chance to say anything else she had disappeared out the door, taking Alice with her. James was left, sitting on the table, declining the house elves' offer of another cake.

* * *

Mary was, by the look of it, alone in the dorm, laying on her stomach on her bed, her hair pulled back up in a bun on the top of her head, reading the latest edition of Witch Weekly.

"What're you doing?" Lily shoved her book bag on the floor and threw herself on the bed.

"Reading," Mary replied, looking up from the magazine.

"Anything good?"

"Celestina Warbeck is getting remarried, some Ministry bloke got broke trying to create a rock band and an article about hair colouring potions. Where's Alice?"

"She's remarrying again? It's like…her third husband, right." Lily knew she was avoiding the question.

"I know! She's only been divorced for a few months, too." Obviously Mary didn't notice.

"And her poor son, although I guess it must be better than all the cheating rumours."

"Honestly, Lils, have you seen him? Someone that fit can't possibly have any problems being in the spotlight."

"Mary! He's like…twelve."

"So…"

"So, it's weird that you have a thing for him, he could be your little brother."

"Oh, if only…"

"Mary!"

"Okay, fine," Mary pouted. "I'm just saying…"

"So, what did they say about those hair colouring potions?"

Lily leaned towards the headboard, occasionally mumbling in agreement as Mary went on about how a new kind of hair colouring potion was better than all other ones on the market. Another ten minutes passed and Mary moved on to talk about another article she had read when the door opened and Alice entered, followed closely by Marlene, who looked like this was the last place she wanted to be. Mary stopped, in the middle of a sentence, and bolted up in a sitting position.

"Marls has something to say," Alice announced with a pointed look at Marlene.

"No I don't." Marlene walked over to her bed and lay down, eyes glued to the ceiling. "I'm not the one who should apologise."

"Apologise for what?" Lily wondered, because she still wasn't sure what had happened.

"No idea," Alice admitted, shrugging. "I'm just trying to start some type of communication."

"Apologise for stealing Cody from me!"

"He asked me!" Mary exclaimed.

"You could have said no," Marlene squealed.

"Have you ever considered the idea that you're not the only one who's got a thing for him!" Mary retorted.

Marlene snorted.

"Not this again!" Alice protested. I'm not here to have the same conversation again and again. Lily would've liked to add "when I could be downstairs with Frank" to Alice's statement, but decided against it.

"I do! I mean, who doesn't? Have you seen him? I can't wait until I get to look deep into those beautiful blue eyes while drinking the butterbeer he'll order for me." Mary smiled sugar sweetly. It was a smile Lily had seen few master as perfectly as Mary. It always gave the wished result. Marlene jumped up from her bed and for a brief moment Lily thought she might slap Mary.

Then, sighing, she said. "I'll go to dinner, we've got practise tonight."

"Was that necessary?" Lily asked, once Marlene had shut the door behind her.

Mary shrugged. "It could've been her, had she just plucked up her fucking courage and asked him herself, instead of spending so much time staring at him from across the room."'

"I don't get it. What happened? I was right there the whole time, how could I've missed anything?" The last part Alice seemed to have added to herself rather than anyone present in the room.

"Cody asked me to Hogsmeade, I said yes, Marlene threw a fit about it. That's the whole story." Mary shrugged. "I didn't do anything wrong."

The door opened again and for a moment Lily thought it might be Marlene who had returned for whatever reason. Then she saw Elizabeth and Amelia entering.

"Do you know what happened to Marlene?" Amelia asked. "We passed her in the corridor, she looked upset."

"Oh, Merlin," Alice murmured.

"What? What happened?" Amelia encouraged.

"Believe me, you don't want to know." Lily sighed, going for the door. "I'll see if I can find her."

* * *

"Okay guys, that's it for today. Go change." The sun had nearly set behind the mountains in the distance when David called the training to a quit. Sirius nearly collided with James when landing and they both erupted in laughter. James accused Sirius of aiming for him, Sirius said he had done no such thing and pushed James in the chest. Suddenly James was on his back on the muddy pitch, not that it seemed to bother him, he was still laughing. Once he managed to stand up again, still grinning, something had caught Sirius' eye.

"Are you coming mate?" James asked, standing ready to leave, with his broom in his hand.

"Yeah…I just need to check something. You go ahead."

James nodded and followed the rest of the team into the changing rooms. Sirius set off in the opposite direction. She sat on the lower bench of the stands furthest away from the changing rooms. Sirius waited until everyone had vacated the pitch before walking up close enough for Marlene to see him from the corner of her eye, even with her gaze lowered.

"What are you doing?" she asked, looking up. Her normally smiling face carried traces of something Sirius didn't recognise.

"I would ask you the same thing."

"Don't feel much like going back up there." She nodded at the castle.

"Why?"

"Don't act like you don't know, James told you."

"So he was right?"

She nodded despondently.

"Please, don't ask if I'm alright, or try to talk about it, because I'm sick of that."

"Understood."

A single raindrop fell on the bench between them, then another and another. Before long, the sky opened and rain was pouring down while a thunder strike seemed to shake the grounds.

Biting her lower lip and smiling, Marlene stood and moved towards the middle of the pitch with skipping steps. Sirius followed.

"What're you doing?" He yelled over the weather. "You'll get struck."

"At this point, I don't care if lightning struck me," Marlene laughed, twirling on the spot. "This day can't possibly get any worse."

"Well, I'd care." Sirius had no idea where the words came from.

Marlene stopped and looked at him.

"What?"

"I mean, I wouldn't want you to get struck by lighting because you know…you're okay. Also, James would get so sad, and I don't like sad James." Why did he keep talking?

Marlene shook her head and laughed again. "You're crazy."

Sirius liked that she was laughing. Laughing Marlene was much better than sulking Marlene.

"Go to Hogsmeade with me." What?

"What?"

"As friends, I mean," he added quickly.

"Why?"

"I don't know, McKinnon! I don't usually think my decisions through." He lashed his arms out. "You don't have to, I just thought…since you don't have anyone to go with, and I don't have any plans. Besides, everyone will hate you for it."

"Great," Marlene snorted. "Because that is my goal in life…for everyone to hate me."

"It should be, you know." He shrugged. "Makes everything much easier."

"You know…" She began, then, furrowing her brows, "Why would everyone hate me?"

"Because you're going with me as your 'date', and everyone wants to go with me as their date. Right?"

"I suppose, but you're not supposed to know that, idiot."

"I know, I'm too self aware and it's not good for my ego. What can you do?"

"Maybe not flaunt it?" Marlene suggested, trying to keep her face straight.

"Nah, that's boring."

"But…why would you do that?"

"Flaunt?"

"No, idiot. I mean, you could go to Hogsmeade with any girl in this fricking school, why not just choose one of them if you want someone hanging on your arm."

Sirius leaned towards her, not knowing what he would say before the words spilled from his mouth. "None of them are my friend in need of help-" he began. He should've known it was the wrong thing to say.

"I'm not some delicate little lady 'in need of help'." Marlene spat. "I'm perfectly fine on my own, but since you-"

"Merlin! Let me finish!" Sirius pulled her closer. "What I'm saying is…they're not my friends in need of help, but also, that none of them are quite as fit as you."

"I am fit, aren't I?" Marlene smiled.

"You totally are." Sirius agreed, smirking. "Don't tell James though."

"That I'm fit?"

"No, idiot." Sirius sighed to disguise a laugh. "That _I_ said you were fit."

Marlene leaned back and furrow her brows. "Why not?"

"Because he might actually kill me if I made a move on you."

"I see…" She leaned her head to one side. "And you're not 'making a move on me' by taking me to Hogsmeade?"

"Nah, that's more like a favour, one friend to another."

"Does he know that?"

Sirius shrugged. "I'll tell him."

"So I'm just your fit friend?" Marlene leaned forward again. "Who you're taking to Hogsmeade." She bit her lower lip. "As a favour."

He smirked and nodded.

"That doesn't sound very Sirius Black to me." She furrowed her brows.

"Have you ever considered there is a side to me that you don't know?" Smirking, he leaned in even closer. Their faces were now as close as they could be without touching.

"Perhaps." Marlene smiled. The air from her breathing tickled Sirius' nose.

"Marls!"

Sirius stumbled backwards at the sudden scream and noticed how he was soaking wet and cold. Lily came running towards them, her hair flying behind her like a mane. Despite the cold, she wasn't wearing a coat. Marlene had backed away too and looked at her friend approaching them.

"Thank god you're still here," she panted.

"What's happened? Marlene asked, her arms folded across her chest.

"There…there's been an attack."

* * *

 **A/N: Is there really any more to say about it? Hopefully it won't take a month for the next chapter.**

 **/Liz**


	4. Temporary Home

**A/N, Chapter 4 has arrived, see it as a Valentines gift if you want (even though it has nothing to do with valentines day)**

 **Thanks to "N" and OtterPatronus27 who reviewed! It makes my day!**

 **Also thanks to my beta who helped me fix this disaster of a chapter.**

 **R &R (is it forbidden and stuck up to ask people to review?)**

 **/Liz**

* * *

In the semi-darkness Sirius saw all colour drain from Marlene's face. Sirius' mind automatically started going through a list of people who possibly could have been the subject of an attack.

"What?" she slurred.

"Mary was attacked on her way back from the library."

"Is she alright?"

"I don't know." Lily breathed, continuously tapping her foot on the ground. "I just heard about it. Alice is on her way to the hospital wing right now."

"Let's go then, quickly." Marlene linked her arm though Lily's and they hurried off across the pitch to the changing rooms. Sirius didn't follow them, this was their personal matter. He stood still in the darkness which only seemed to increase with each moment that passed. If James was to find out what had almost happened, he would be dead. But it hadn't. Nothing had happened. He tried to reassure himself, yet he knew that, had Lily not shown up when she did, things very well might have.

Sighing, he finally made his way towards the castle. He was cold and wet and the rain was still pouring down, all he really wanted to do was take a warm shower and go to bed. Not until he was halfway up to the castle and, in the light of a lantern, saw two silhouettes moving towards the whomping willow, did he remember what night it was.

He rushed up to the castle doors, in his rush almost falling flat on the stone steps leading up to the entrance hall, and up the stairs. He tumbled into an almost empty common room. James and Peter sat in front of the fire with a chess game in between them and looked up as he almost fell through the portrait hole, knocking over a stool as he did so.

"So it's time to show up now?" Peter asked stiffly.

"I'm so sorry. I forgot…"

"You know, when you said you would check something I didn't know you meant on the other side of the country." James eyed him.

"I said I was sorry."

"There is no need to apologise to us." Peter moved his knight to knock over James' queen. "But Moony was really bummed you weren't here."

"You know, the reason I wasn't here was because MacDonald got attacked." This wasn't the whole truth, but James and Peter's utter disappointment were enough to send him back to Grimmauld Place that first Christmas after he began Hogwarts.

"What?" James' expression transformed from anger and disappointment to shock. "Is she okay?"

Sirius shrugged. "Dunno, Evans and Marls were going to check on her."

"You talked to Evans?" James asked. "Knight to C4," he added, and his knight moved and hit Peter's bishop over the head.

"Not really. Me and Marls were talking and then she came and she and Marls went away." Sirius shrugged as if it had no real meaning although, in truth, he had chosen his words carefully.

"Who did it?" Peter asked.

"Dunno," Sirius said again.

"I bet it was Avery. In that group of evil people, he is the most evil," Peter said with a shiver.

"I'll beat him up. I bet whatever hurt her was Dark Magic." Sirius clenched his fists.

"You won't do anything stupid now, will you, Padfoot?" James asked. "Besides, we don't even

know if anyone attacked her. She might just have slipped, or accidentally done something to herself."

"Prongs, I know it's MacDonald we're talking about, but not even she would manage to get a spell that wrong," Sirius said and, just as he was about to finish his thought, the portrait hole swung open and Lily, Alice and Marlene entered, all three looking worried.

"How's she?" Sirius asked, leaning over the back of the sofa.

"Madam Pomfrey hasn't got a clue what's happened. They're transferring her to St. Mungo's right now," Marlene answered, staying where she was, halfway through the common room on the way to the dorms with her arm wrapped around Alice's shoulders.

Sirius nodded and sank down in the sofa again while Marlene continued towards the dorms.

"Told you, Dark magic," he sighed, but he couldn't remember ever feeling more disappointed that he'd been right.

"Your argument just became more valid," James admitted. "But my request for you not to do anything stupid still stands."

"Don't you get it, Prongs? This is my family. My brother, my cousins. They're the ones doing this. I can't just sit and watch, can I?"

James looked like he was about to say something but he fell quiet again.

"Should we go up?" Peter nodded towards the dorm. "It's late."

Sirius was quick to agree. Even if the fire had warmed him, his toes were still stiff in his thin sneakers.

* * *

Remus woke up in the hospital wing. The by now familiar feeling of not being able to move, had he wanted to, was overshadowed by a pain in his right arm. He looked over to see an unfamiliar scar running the length of his upper arm. It wasn't bleeding, but the skin was still thin and pink.

"Good morning, Mr. Lupin. Feeling better?" Madam Pomfrey, efficient as usual, hurried into the ward and didn't give him a chance to answer before handing him a bottled potion and a small cup.

"One cup now, and one in an hour," she instructed and set them down on the nightstand.

Remus put the cork back in the bottle and raised the cup to his lips when the ward doors were slammed open and James, Sirius and Peter stumbled in. Ignoring Madam Pomfrey's comments that this was really not the time, Sirius took the chair from the bed next to Remus while James settled on the chair already by his side and Peter sat at the foot of his bed. '

"You okay mate?" James asked, grinning and handing him a pack of chocolate.

"I am now." Remus made an attempt to smile and took the chocolate from his friend's hand., putting the cup down on the nightstand.

"You know MacDonald was attacked yesterday?" Sirius asked once he'd opened the chocolate and the others, as usual, had told him they didn't want any.

"Mary? Really? Is she okay?"

"Not really, they moved her before you got in, I believe." Sirius leaned forward in his chair and took the potion from the nightstand.

"Moved her?"

"To St. Mungo's," James filled in, rather matter of factly.

"What?" Madam Pomfrey had taken care of him after every full moon for five years. Remus had almost started to believe there was nothing she couldn't heal.

"Who did it?"

"Moved her? I guess it was Dumbledore." Sirius sniffed the potion, pulled a face and put it down on the nightstand. "Honestly, Moony, how do you drink this?" Sirius added.

"Well obviously I was asking about the name of who moved her, genius," Remus sighed. "No, who attacked her."

"Oh, that. Dunno. Peter's money is on Avery though."

The puzzle fell into place in Remus' mind. The picture it painted sent a shiver up his spine and made him feel sick.

"What if it was me?" he asked.

"What do you mean?" James eyed him.

"Who attacked her?"

"What? Why would you think that?" Peter exclaimed, horrified.

"She was attacked last night, just before I got back in, Madam Pomfrey can't cure her, no one knows what's happened." Remus felt positive he was going to be sick. "All evidence points towards it." He swallowed hard.

"Moony!" James reached forward and grabbed his hand. "It couldn't have been you."

"How-" Tears formed in his eyes.

"She was attacked outside the library." Sirius patted his shoulder.

"Well, how do you know I wasn't-"

"Moony, I think we'd know if you'd been running around the castle all…bunny-like." James grinned and patted his hand. "Don't worry."

* * *

Marlene didn't really mind waking up at dawn, she felt bad for Dumbledore though. He couldn't possibly be awake this early. She'd tried to tell Lily and Alice that, but every attempt to had been shut down and now they were hurrying through the empty Hogwarts corridors before the sun had

even risen above the mountains.

Alice was the first to reach the stone gargoyle. She stopped and turned to Lily and Marlene. "What do we do now?" she asked.

"Give it the password," Lily yawned. "It's 'bubble-gum'."

Marlene, knowing from Mike, her brother, that only the Head Boy and Girl were given the password to the Headmaster's office, wondered how Lily knew it. She didn't get a chance to ask, however, because the gargoyle turned and revealed a stone staircase. Lily stepped onto it and it started rotating upwards, bringing her up with it. Marlene glanced at Alice before she too stepped onto the steps.

A short while later they found themselves standing outside a wooden door. Hesitantly, Alice stretched her arm forward and knocked. A minute passed, and Marlene began to think her statement that the headmaster wasn't awake was true. Then the door opened wide and Dumbledore appeared. He was wearing a striped, light purple night-gown, which proved Marlene right.

"What can I do for you girls this early?" he asked.

"We're terribly sorry to disturb, sir, but you see, we were wondering if you knew how Mary MacDonald is." Alice was so well-mannered Marlene wanted to go back in time and push herself out a window for her own blunt tone when she talked to teachers. She knew it wouldn't change it though.

"I'm afraid I don't," Dumbledore said. "But I can assure you that the Healers are taking good care of her."

"When can we see her?" Lily blurted when Dumbledore finished.

"I suggest you wait until we have information from St. Mungo's about Ms. Macdonald's state." Although he had just been abruptly woken on a Saturday morning Dumbledore's voice was calm, pleasant even. "If I were you I would come back by noon, and we will make a decision regarding your visiting her."

"We will, sir. Thank you," Alice said as Dumbledore began to close the door.

"Well that was a disappointment," Lily said. Alice nodded gloomily.

"I told you we'd wake him," Marlene murmured, just loud enough for the others to hear.

"I guess I'm supposed to ask what the matter is with you," Alice sighed, "but I can't be bothered.

Will you just tell us?"

Marlene didn't even know herself what was the matter. For starters, they had a pile of homework,

most of which she hadn't started nor knew how to do, then there was everything with Mary and Cody. She'd had her first Quidditch practice, which had turned out to be more exhausting than Marlene had believed it would be, finishing the day off with the attack on Mary, and her and Sirius stepping outside the box of acceptable behavior towards your almost brother's best friend.

"Oh, nothing. Just tired," she lied, not knowing if it was a lie if she didn't actually know what the truth was.

"So what do we do now?" Lily asked.

"Wait?" Alice suggested.

"Not much else we can do," Lily sighed.

"We could sneak out, you know." Marlene shrugged.

"Please tell me you're kidding." Alice stopped and turned to face her.

"Nah, we'll just ask the boys, that is, James, to help us. They've been doing it for years."

Marlene bit her tongue, knowing she shouldn't have said that much.

"They have done what?" Lily turned too, her expression like Professor McGonagall's.

"Sneaking out," Marlene sighed.

"That's so irresponsible! I can't believe you knew and did nothing."

"It's not like I gave them my permission or anything," she explained. "They do as they please and for your own safety you don't interfere."

"For their safety you should. Who knows what danger they could be getting themselves into, especially in times like these," Lily argued back.

"I don't control them, Lily, what do you not understand."

"Well, if you won't do anything about it, I will. Surely McGonagall will be able to contain them."

"You can't be serious, Lils, they're not in any danger."

"How can you know that?" Lily raised her voice. "No one is safe these days. Just look what happened to Mary…" She stopped, swallowing hard.

In the seconds following no one said anything, then Alice said something that made Marlene question whether she was dreaming.

"I think we should do it."

"What? Alice, just think about the consequences. Even if we all make it there alright, we can still get caught. It's 'the marauders' we're discussing here. Aren't they known for getting in trouble?"

Lily's voice was not quite as loud as before, but still above normal.

"Come on Lils. Isn't it worth it?" Alice said.

"No, it's not." Lily crossed her arms. "Sorry guys."

Alice sighed. "Fine."

"So, breakfast?" Marlene turned to the other two.

"Sure." Alice shrugged.

"She's at St. Mungo's." As the third group of students passed by their seats at the table, whispering, Alice had gone very pale and Lily's tea cup stood unfinished in front of her. "They say it was the Cruciatus Curse."

"It's a rumour," Marlene clarified, both to her friends and the passing group of Hufflepuff students.

"You don't know that," Alice mumbled.

"It's Hogwarts. Everything's a rumour."

"I saw them last night, she looked dead." Two Slytherins passed them.

Lily dropped her spoon onto the table.

"It's not true," Marlene said forcefully, trying her best to keep her voice from shaking.

"Lily!" Hestia Jones hurried over to their table just as Marlene was forcing herself to finish her toast. "Did you hear about Mary?"

Lily nodded.

"You know, there were some Ravenclaws out last night, and they said they heard a scream."

Marlene shivered.

"But what do they know really? It's all rumours. Don't worry. I'm sure Mary's fine," Hestia continued.

"Mm." Lily picked up the spoon she'd dropped and put it back into the tea cup. "Right."

"Come on, Lily!" Alice begged. They were back in the dorm, Lily was sitting on her bed reading, Marlene was pacing the room and Alice tried to convince Lily that sneaking out was the right thing to do.

"I said no." Lily closed the book in her lap and looked up.

"Didn't you hear them? She looked _dead. Dead, Lily._ "

"There're only three hours to lunch."

"Yes. Three hours and then what?" Marlene stopped walking back and forth and fell down on her bed. "Then Dumbledore will maybe start planning for us to visit. At this pace we'll get there by Christmas."

"Since when do you care?" Lily snapped.

"Lily!" Alice exclaimed.

"Sorry." Lily looked down at her hands.

"Of course I care. Just because I don't _love_ her doesn't mean I wanna see her dead."

"I know," Lily mumbled. "I just snapped."

"Yeah, we got that." Marlene pulled herself up in a sitting position.

"We should do it, shouldn't we?" Lily swallowed.

"What?"

"We…should sneak out."

"Really?" Marlene turned to her.

"I mean. What if she really is hurt? Or...worse. I'm not saying it's a good, or sensible, idea," she sighed. "But it's the best we've got."

"Okay." Marlene rose from the bed. "I'll go see if I can find James, you two pack."

"Pack? What're we supposed to pack?" Alice asked.

"I don't know! I'm just trying to get moving. Money? Some of those magazines Mary loves?" She hurried out of the dorm.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask them," Lily admitted with a sigh.

The Gryffindor boys' dorm was empty of Marauders. Frank and Arnold, however, told her

they'd left half an hour ago.

Marlene was just about to leave the common room to go looking for them when the four boys in question came in through the portrait hole. James had his arm around Remus' shoulders and Peter walked on Remus' other side. Remus appeared to be fully relying on James to stay standing.

"Hey, Sirius!" At the sound of her voice he jumped, as if he'd been caught in the middle of something he wasn't supposed to do.

"Can I talk to you?" She mouthed.

He nodded and went over to her.

"Listen, Marls. About yesterday, can we talk about that another time. I'm-"

"It's not that." She cut him off.

"It's not?" He took a step towards her, furrowing his brows.

"No. What's the probability of us getting out of school?"

"We?"

"Me, Lily and Alice."

"Pretty high."

"Okay, what're the possibilities of getting from here to London, in to St. Mungo's to visit Mary?"

" _Slightly_ slimmer. Merlin, Marls. That's something even I wouldn't do."

"Well it's an emergency."

"What? MacDonald? What's happened to her?"

"We don't know! That's the bloody problem!"

"Okay, calm down."

"Yeah? Would you want me to tell you to "calm down" if James was hurt and you didn't know what happened and people said he looked dead!"

"Come on, I think comparing MacDonald to Prongs is a bit of a leap."

"Fine. We'll just figure something out ourselves." She turned to storm off.

"No, wait." Sirius grabbed her wrist. "I'll help you."

* * *

The bus made a sharp turn, making all the chairs slide across the floor and bang into the opposite wall, before stopping abruptly. The conductor followed a thin woman out from what Sirius had referred to as "the Knight Bus". Based on her experience from the few minutes on board the bus Alice knew she, despite how much she'd always hated it, would prefer to travel by broom any day of the week. The others didn't seemed to enjoy the mean of travel any more than she did. Lily was on the edge of her chair next to Alice and held onto the window sill as if her life depended on it, and Marlene's face was steadily growing whiter.

"What is this bus even for? Torturing people?" Lily mumbled, as the bus made a twirl to avoid a barn.

"I told you. It's the knight bus." Sirius seemed the only one unaffected by the bus's twists and turns. "My parents were crazy when it was put into use, said it was a shame us wizards had to retort to 'simple Muggle inventions'. They weren't the only ones, it caused a lot of attention. Many purebloods didn't think it was necessary. Right, McKinnon?"

Marlene didn't reply. All of her energy seemed to be put into not throwing up.

"For once I must agree with them," Lily said. "This really is unnecessary. We've got brooms, and Floo powder, and Apparation."

There was a loud bang and the setting outside the bus window changed from green fields and barns to a busy London street in the blink of an eye before the bus, suddenly and with such force Alice was thrown off her chair, stopped.

"Mr. Black. This is you." The conductor informed them and offered his arm to Alice to help her up.

Alice had been to the hospital once before, to visit a great aunt or something? Alice tried to recall her name, maybe Lilia? The waiting room looked just as she remembered it, chairs lined up against the walls and outdated magazines in baskets and on table around the room.

They reached the front desk, occupied by a young thin witch with high cheekbones and the facial expression of someone who would've liked to be anywhere but there.

"What can I help you with?" she asked in a monotonous voice.

"Hello. I'm Sirius Black, this is Marlene McKinnon, Lily Evans and Alice Fortescue. We've come to visit Mary MacDonald."

"Identification?"

"Er…"

"Everyone visiting must show legitimation," she explained, eyeing them suspiciously. "It's a matter of everyone's safety you understand. Sirius Black, was it?"

"My family has made huge contributions to the hospital. Couldn't you make an exception?"

"Well…I don't believe-"

"I don't think you understand." Sirius smiled. "My family could destroy you."

The witch's eyes widened and she quickly flipped through the folder in front of her."She's on fourth floor, up the stairs and to your left." She pointed up the stairs. "I am very sorry about the inconvenience. Tell your parents we are very happy about their contribution."

"Okay, that was amazing," Lily admitted as they walked up the stairs.

"Being a Black does have its advantages."

"Sirius!" Marlene exclaimed. "You can't say that."

"I didn't say it was good advantages."

"Advantages are always good, that's the purpose of them," Lily put in.

"Okay, fine." Sirius crossed his arms.

* * *

Alice returned to the ward with a glass of water in one hand and a pack of Bertie Bott's Beans in the other. She put them down on the nightstand beside Mary's bed before sitting down in one of the empty chairs. Mary was asleep, her brown hair still in the side braid she'd worn the day before. The Healer had told them they could stay but Mary was not likely to wake since she was under a sleeping potion.

"She looks really peaceful," Marlene remarked. "If she was always like this I might be able to stand her." Lily gave her a sharp look, signaling this wasn't the time.

"I don't get why you're still angry with her. The Hogsmeade problem is solved and your date will beat hers," Sirius said. He was standing a bit away from the girls in his usual careless manner. Lily didn't have a clue what he was talking about and, reading from her frown, neither did Alice.

"That was only part of the problem." Marlene rolled her eyes at Sirius. "Why do blokes not understand that conflicts are bigger than that?"

"Can someone fill me in on what's happening?" Lily asked. "Since when is Sirius involved in this?"

"You didn't tell them?" This comment was so obviously directed towards Marlene that Lily felt like she interrupted an intimate moment by simply being there.

"Didn't really get the chance to," Marlene sighed.

"Right, MacDonald," Sirius said.

"Okay, one of you tell me what all this is about." Alice gestured between the two of them.

"She's going to Hogsmeade with me."

"What?" Alice frowned.

"As friends," Marlene filled in.

A million questions immediately popped into to Lily's head. However, she was stopped from asking them by Mary, who turned and let out a groan before opening her eyes.

"Oh, heey guuys," she said, her voice dragging.

"Hi, Mary, how're you feeling?" Alice asked, leaning forward.

"Where am I?" she murmured.

"St. Mungos. You were attacked in the corridor last night."

"Ohhh, thaaat. Yees. That big bloke in Slytherin, Muliret or something…he raised his wand and then everything just went black."

Lily turned and met the others' glances and knew they thought the same as she did. Although the name Mary had given wasn't exactly right, there was no doubt who she was supposed to mean. Mulciber, the tall and muscular Slytherin student who seemed to be involved in half of the incidents on the school grounds. Severus had been friends with him for years, if friends was what you could call them. To Lily they rather seemed like a group of people who shared a dark sense of humour and a hatred against everyone different from themselves.

The Healer, who had been dealing with a little boy whose face was covered by deep cuts, now came over to the bed where Mary was. "Ms. MacDonald, you're awake," she said to Mary and then, turning to the others she added quietly, "We will need to run some tests on her. You should leave." Sirius looked like he was about to start an argument for the sole purpose of it, but instead followed the others out of the ward.

Fifteen minutes later Lily and Sirius were alone in the hospital cafeteria. The others had wanted to visit the hospital shop and Sirius had, to Lily's surprise, offered to stay while she finished her cup of tea. He was watching her intensely.

"Is there a reason you stayed?" she asked, feeling like she was being assessed on her ability to drink tea.

"I'm glad you asked, Evans," he replied and Lily sighed, ready for a long speech about whatever reason he had this time for James to be her soul mate. "I need your help," he admitted.

"What?" Lily looked up.

"You remembered what I said before?" Sirius tried, obviously feeling uncomfortable talking about it. Lily shook her head. "About Hogsmeade…" he tried.

"Oh, with Marlene?"

Sirius nodded. "James will be so pissed about it."

"You haven't told him?"

"I didn't really have time to. It happened just yesterday, after Quidditch practise. Then it all got

kind of interrupted by the attack."

"I know Marls said you're going as friends…" Lily said, considering whether or not to say the words. "But you'd make a cute couple. Odd, but cute."

Sirius seemed taken aback by her words. "We are not a couple," he said, screwing up his face.

"I'm simply doing her a favour. One friend to another, but James won't like it."

"Why not?"

"Don't tell him-"

"That is highly unlikely."

"-Okay, then don't tell Marls. He tends to be very…protective of her."

"Really?" Lily asked, frowning.

"Yes, almost as protective as he is of you."

"He's not protective of me!"

"Oh really? Then what's your explanation for why Avery was in the hospital wing looking like a

gorilla for three days after he called you a mudblood?"

Lily tried her best to keep her frown but it proved extremely difficult and soon she was covering her mouth to hide how amused she actually was by it.

"Merlin, that was him? Some impressive Transfiguration work, when was that even? Like, third year?"

Sirius nodded and smiled too. "You know you're laughing about something James did, right?"

"I don't approve of some of what you're up to, that doesn't mean I lack a sense of humour."

"Okay then, back on subject. What should I do?"

"Honestly, Black, I have no idea why you're asking me," Lily said. "I'm shitty at giving advice and even shittier at reading people, yet everyone always comes to me with their problems for some reason."

"Woah, sorry." Sirius raised his hands to stop her rambling.

"It's fine. Well…can't you just tell him you're going as friends?"

"You really don't know Prong…eh, James."

"You know I don't. Well...why don't you just ask him to take her?"

"Nah." Barely had the words left his lips before his face lit up.

"What?" Lily asked.

"Why don't you go with him?"

"You're joking, right!"

"No. If you go with him it will take his mind off what he won't describe as anything but a

disaster."

"Oh, so that's what you're doing, Black? Using me as a distraction to cover up your mistake?"

"It's not a mistake."

"You are making no sense right now, Black, you know that?" Lily swallowed the last of her tea.

"You're taking her to Hogsmeade, though she isn't your date and you don't have any feelings for her, but you don't want anyone else to do it instead and although you know very well that it is something that will make your best friend in the entire world mad, you claim it's not a mistake." Lily heard her own voice rise as she spoke. "And people say girls can't make up their minds." She shook her head with a sigh.

Sirius opened his mouth to reply.

"We can go back to Mary now," Alice announced, she and Marlene re-entering the cafeteria. Then noticing Lily's frown, she asked. "What's happened."

"Nothing," Sirius said quickly. "Let's go."

Lily searched his gaze but he clearly avoided it.

The same Healer as before was in the ward. On their way in she stopped them. "We've given her a bit of pain relief, she reacted quite strongly to it, so she's a bit dizzy," she warned them in a hushed voice.

"Do you know what happened to her?" Lily asked.

The healer hesitated. "We do, but it's confidential. However, she should be out by Monday."

Lily nodded and they all proceeded towards Mary's bed. She was tucked up against a hill of pillows with a magazine on her lap.

"Hi honey. How are you feeling?" Alice asked, sitting down on one of the chairs beside her bed.

"I'm good." Mary looked up and smiled. Something in her eyes was childlike.

"I heard you'll be out of here in time for the Hogsmeade visit," Lily said.

"Yeah. I don't really care 'bout that though," Mary continued in her childish voice. "I'm only goin' with 'im 'cause it would make Marlene pissed."

Everything seemed to stop for a minute as Lily wished Marlene had gone to the bathroom, or anywhere that caused her not to be in the room at the moment when those words were uttered.

"I knew it!" she squealed, rushing forward she slapped her hand across Mary's arm. She looked ready to start a full fight, but before she had a chance to, Sirius grabbed her by the shoulders and dragged her backward. The Healer came hurrying over and ordered them all to leave the ward immediately.

* * *

They were ushered into a room by a nurse and the door shut behind them. The room was small, with only a desk and a plastic chair; it felt cold and uninviting. Lily took one of the chairs while Sirius stood against the wall, still holding Marlene against his chest. Alice was left to wander back and forth across the tiled floor, counting every time her trainer made contact with the floor. Fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. They were in trouble, she knew it.

She'd reached forty before the door opened again and even before entering the room Alice knew who it was. Dumbledore didn't look angry, like Alice had expected, but rather worried and disappointed. She followed his every movement, as he closed the door and placed himself in the middle of the room.

"I expect you know why I'm here," he started. Alice felt her stomach tighten and she swallowed hard as she nodded quietly.

"Yes, sir," she whispered. Lily nodded in agreement.

"I must say I hadn't expected this from you. You've acted very irresponsibly and placed youselves in danger."

Alice felt sick.

"Professor, it was my idea." Marlene stepped forward from where she and Sirius stood against the back wall.

"Ms. McKinnon?" Dumbledore looked over.

"I thought we would just see Mary and then return. The others didn't want to, really. But I convinced them. And, about what just happened, I'm very, very sorry. It will not happen again."

"Very well, Ms. McKinnon. I am afraid you'll have to tell that to Professor McGonagall when we return to school, she will be the one deciding your punishment," he sighed. "And what are you doing here, Mr. Black?"

"I helped them out of the school."

"May I ask how?"

"I'm afraid you may not. What kind of a marauder would I be if I let the headmaster in on our secrets?"

The ghost of a smile seemed to cross Dumbledore's lips. However, it was gone within seconds.

"You will go to McGonagall right away when we arrive back at school. Now, let's get moving and they might still be serving lunch when you're done."

"I am disgusted." Professor McGonagall announced unnecessarily. "Not only did you sneak out of school and to London when Professor Dumbledore himself had told you not to, but in the hospital you, Ms. McKinnon, hit a fellow student." She stopped and took a deep breath as if talking about it was causing her physical pain. "Now, Professor Dumbledore has left it to me to decide about your punishment. Thirty points will be taken from Gryffindor for each of you, and you will all serve two hours' detention every Friday for the next month and, of course, we will inform your parents about what has happened." Alice didn't know what made her more panicked, her father finding out she had broken the rules, or breaking her spotless record. She was so deep into her own thoughts that she didn't notice McGonagall had finished and the others were leaving the room until Lily tugged her arm.

"I can't believe her," Marlene cursed as soon as the office door shut behind them. "Two hours, every Friday, for a month. She doesn't appear to understand I have a social life."

"You are partly responsible though. You didn't have to hit Mary," Lily reminded her.

"I didn't mean to," Marlene defended herself, "but she was making me so frustrated, that was the last drop."

"Still," Lily pushed the entrance door open and stepped out on the grounds. "There was no need to hit her. As soon as she gets out of that hospital you two will sit down and talk things out like adults because I'm sick of you two not being able to be in the same room without you two trying to kill each other through telepathy or something. "

"I will talk to her, if she'll talk to me." Marlene crossed her arms.

Lily sighed, put didn't pursue the subject.

"Did you see Mary?" Dorcas came over to them.

"Yeah," Alice said.

"And?"

"She's fine." Lily looked up, smiling.

Dorcas breathed out in relief before plopping down next to Marlene in the grass.

"Got detention too, while we were at it," Marlene muttered.

"Really? How much?"

"Two hours' every Friday night for a month."

Dorcas pulled a face and leaned back towards the oak tree.

"I can't believe she actually gave you detention," Marlene turned to Alice. "Before this, you'd never put a toe out of line."

Marlene was right. Alice had never broken a rule before, but now she had and she would be punished for it.

Lily pulled out that day's edition of The Daily Prophet and opened it. Everyone was quiet for a while before Lily sighed and by now everyone knew that sigh could only mean one of two things. Alice's gaze had, for the last five minutes, been traveling over the water surface trying to find the giant squid and now she turned to face Lily instead.

"What's it this time?" Marlene asked, she too looking up.

"'Someone' has been putting Muggles under Imperius curses." Lily sighed again.

"Can you imagine the damage that'll cause? Innocent muggles going around acting under the

power of the Death Eaters," Marlene asked.

Alice shivered at the thought.

"They're sick. All of them. Anyone who has any kind of opinions that purebloods are better than anyone else is welcome to fight me," Marlene continued.

"Most of them are not even in it because they are stuck up, they honestly believe it's the right thing," Dorcas put in.

"That's the problem, isn't it?" Marlene asked. "I mean, if they were all just stupid they wouldn't be able to cause such problems."

Alice thought about this for a moment and her mind couldn't help but slip to her father. He sometimes had a quite old-fashioned opinion about everything and so too in the ever active discussion about blood status. Although her father had never said he agreed with Voldemort, he had suggested it. He couldn't really help it though, he came from a long line of full blood witches and wizards, he didn't know any better. She hummed along with the others in agreement although her thoughts were still occupied.

* * *

"You did what?" James asked, not angry or upset but his voice lacking its usual warmth.

"Calm down, Prongs." Sirius didn't know if calm down were the right words but he couldn't find anything more suitable. "It's not that big a deal."

"Not a big deal?" James raised his voice a little. "She is basically my sister, Pads. And you're my brother. And now the two of you are dating?"

"Slow down a bit, Prongs. We're not dating; we're just going to Hogsmeade together, as friends."

"Can you promise nothing will happen then?" James demanded and the second's hesitation from Sirius' side seemed to be enough of an answer for him. "That's it. I'm taking her instead."

"No! Prongs. I promise, nothing will happen." Sirius had no idea why those words hurt so much to say. He didn't want anything to happen, did he?

"Good," James said. "One of you would just end up hurt, and I'd have to pick up the pieces."

Sirius, not wishing to stay on the subject, started retelling what had happened after they left the school, leaving out his conversation with Lily. Lying to James felt terrible although he told himself it wasn't really a lie, more like avoiding part of the truth.

"Marls slapped her?" James asked, half amused when Sirius reached the end of the story.

Sirius nodded. "Although that's not the important part. It was Mulciber, he attacked her. Remind me to hex that idiot the next time I see him."

"Solving violence with more violence, Pads?" But before Sirius could put in that this was an entirely different thing he added, "That's my brother."

They moved towards the mirror on the fourth floor when James nodded towards it and asked:

"Should we go?"

"And do what?"

"Three Broomsticks?"

"She'll recognize us."

"But she won't tell."

"You've got a point."

"So…?"

"Let's go."

As they passed James knocked on the frame on the big wall mirror and it swung open. They darted through the opening and stumbled down the first few steps of the stone staircase.

"We were going to the kitchen to get breakfast for Moony after you left and Grant came up to us-"

"Which one?" Sirius interrupted.

"-Caroline, so no need to worry. However, she asked if we'd seen Moony and we, of course, said he was still asleep and that he wasn't feeling well. She asked if he'd be better this weekend and not to put words in her mouth but-"

"-Sounds like Moony's got himself a girl," Sirius concluded.

"Exactly. She'd find him this afternoon. If all goes well it looks like me and Peter will be the only ones going stag this time."

Sirius laughed, more out of habit than because the stag joke was actually funny anymore.

They passed the post office and Sirius remembered the last time they had gone down here. It had

been last May, to get the mandrake leaves James dad had sent for them.

" _This is crazy, they'll recognize us," Remus said, buttoning up his school robe all the way. The sun had disappeared almost completely behind the mountains and the air was chilly._

" _It's the post office, w've never even been in there," James reminded him as he swung the door open. He crossed the office floor in a few steps. "Beautiful night, huh?" he said to the man behind the desk, who only huffed. "We're picking up a package from Fleamont Potter."_

 _Sirius had expected there to be some level of security, and they had a made up story to explain why they were there. However, the man just nodded and, with a heavy breath, rose from the chair_

 _and reached for a package on the upper shelf and put it into James' hands._

Sirius smiled, it felt like so long ago, even though it'd only been a few months. They had gone to the three broomsticks afterwards that time too, Madam Rosmerta had served them butterbeer and

sandwiches.

Sirius never thought he'd wanted butterbeer more than he did now. It was truly freezing outside and the wind grabbed Sirius' cloak and almost blew him off course. Hearing the door slam closed behind them was a relief and Madam Rosmerta looked up.

"My favourite customers!" she exclaimed, so loud that the other visitors (which were few compared to a Hogsmeade weekend) looked up. "What brings you here today?" Then, a little

afraid, she added, "it's not Hogsmeade weekend yet, is it?"

"No Rosmerta, not until next weekend," James reassured her, "but we were simply craving some

of your delicious butterbeer. You won't tell on us, will you?"

"Of course not, James, you know that," she smiled. "I just had a delivery this morning, come with me." She grabbed them by the hands and led them into a room behind the bar.

While Rosmerta opened a large barrel and poured the butterbeer into three glasses, Sirius caught sight of the bottles of firewhiskey on the shelf on the opposite wall. Rosmerta looked up and must have known, or at least suspected, because she said, "I can't serve you that."

Sirius bulged his lip and looked at Rosmerta with puppy eyes.

"Sorry." Then, handing him and James a glass of butterbeer each and keeping one herself she said, "A toast."

"With butter," James filled in and Rosmerta cracked a smile.

"And cheese," Sirius added. Rosmerta threw her head back in laughter as Sirius emptied half his

cup in one sweep. No sooner had he whipped the foam mustache from his top lip than there was a firm knock on the door and an all too familiar voice came through.

"Rosmerta. I don't know what you're doing in there but Horace and I want our drinks."

Sirius turned and his eyes met James, both of them fully aware what was about to happen.

"Back door." Rosmerta mouthed, before slipping out of the front door. "I'm terribly sorry, Minerva." They heard her say as the door closed behind her. While James fiddled with the back door lock Sirius turned and snatched a bottle of firewhiskey and, closing his cloak over it, he and James tumbled out in the cold.

* * *

"Hey! How did Dorcas know we'd been to see Mary?" Marlene asked as they headed back to the Gryffindor tower.

Alice and Lily looked at each other.

"Lily talked to her," Alice said.

"What? When?"

"This morning, when you went looking for James. I just thought she should have the choice to go with us."

"She didn't want to?"

"No. She didn't want to be any trouble," Lily shrugged. "She felt guilty though, thought it was her fault."

"That's crazy. Why?"

"She and Mary had been in the library and she went ahead while Mary was packing up her stuff."

"And you managed to get her to say all this?" Marlene asked. "She doesn't seem to talk much."

"She's just…insecure, and shy." Lily thought back to that night at the beginning of the term. She hadn't told the others about it, and she didn't think Mary had either.

"Are they all like that? Hufflepuffs."

"Your sister's a Hufflepuff," Alice remarked.

"Okay, get it." Marlene sighed.

"I was quiet too when we first met." Alice shrugged.

"You're still not the most talkative person I know."

"Yeah, but I'm competing with Potter and Black."

"You know when you're even less talkative?"

"When?"

"When Longbottom's mentioned." Marlene smiled triumphantly. Lily didn't think the subject change was as smooth as Marlene's face led her to believe.

"Oh, shut up." Alice looked away.

"See! Told you so!" Marlene gestured between Lily and Alice.

* * *

"Where are they?" Peter wondered out loud for the third time that afternoon. Remus didn't reply, mostly because no answer was really necessary. James and Sirius sometimes disappeared for hours at a time, often reappearing having earned themselves another detention. However, they always returned for dinner. They'd have to show up soon though, because there were only another fifteen minutes before the doors to the Great Hall opened for dinner.

"Fancy a game of chess?" Remus asked.

"You always win," Peter groaned.

"Okay, what about Exploding Snap then?"

"Sure," Peter agreed. "I'll just get the cards from my drawer." He rose from his chair in the common room and went up the stairs.

Remus was sure no more than twenty seconds had passed before Caroline Grant filled Peter's vacated chair.

"Hi, Remus." Remus was surprised she even knew his name, she was a year above him and always surrounded by groups of people, why would she bother noticing him?

"Hello, Caroline."

"I was thinking. Maybe, if you're not doing anything then, you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me."

The question was clear and couldn't be misunderstood in any way, yet Remus doubted he'd heard right. Then Sirius' throwaway comment popped into his head "I've always thought she and Remus would make a beautiful couple." No, it couldn't happen.

"Are you sure you're thinking of me? You might be looking for Ruben, he's a 7th year. I think I saw him heading down to dinner, you might be able to catch up with him." He was only trying to be helpful and when Caroline gave a snort of laughter his stomach tightened.

"I'm looking for you, idiot." She didn't use idiot the way Remus was used to hearing it. The way

Lily shouted after James or the way the girls Sirius took to Hogsmeade and broke up with, this was playful.

"Er…okay. Well, I guess…" He felt like an idiot, not the playful kind, the full blown awkward type you were supposed to run from, yet Caroline sat still, her blond hair falling over her shoulders and her straight and symmetrical nose pointing his direction. "Sure."

"Great. I'll meet you in the entrance hall at half past nine at Saturday then." With that she rose and went over to her group of friends by the window before Remus could get another word in.

The moment she left Peter appeared from behind a bookcase, his smile revealing he had been lurking there for a while.

"Congratulations Moony!" he said when he sat down in the now empty chair.

"I made a fool of myself." Remus hid his face in his hands.

"No you didn't," Peter reassured him, "if you did she seemed to like it."

"I've never been that embarrassed in my life."

"What's up with Moony?" Came another voice from above. Sirius and James clearly had returned.

"He's got a date," Peter announced.

"I made a fool of myself," Remus repeated to the newcomers.

"I'm sure you didn't," Sirius said.

"I did. And the worst part is, I said yes."

"What?"

"I said yes, I said I'd go to Hogsmeade with her."

"And you didn't want to?" Peter asked.

"Of course I didn't want to!" Remus snapped. "I could never."

"I'm not getting this," Sirius said, plopping down on the sofa

"I can't. I'll go, I'll like her, I'll have to break up with her before she notices anything. That is, if she doesn't break up with me first."

"You're reading too much into this Moony," Sirius said, "you're not committing to anything past Saturday."

"Of course you'd say that," Remus murmured, "you never commit past Saturday. Merlin, what happened to you?" Remus looked up to find James and Sirius looking out of place, their robes out of place and James' glasses on end. "Found a broom closet, did you?"

"The weather happened," James muttered, putting his glasses back in place and nodding out the window. Remus had failed to notice it was blowing full storm outside.

"And actually, I've committed behind Saturday this time," Sirius said proudly.

"You have? Who?" Peter wondered.

"McKinnon."

"Really?"

"As friends," James put in sharply.

"Yes, of course, however, I can't dump her after this because Prongs would kill me. So I'll have to be on my best behavior."

"Yeah, you'd better be," James murmured.

"So, dinner?" Peter asked, standing.


	5. I'll stand by you

**A/N Ok, let's just accept that it takes me a month to get chapters out and if I keep apologizing for it I will just feel bad that I don't get them up often enough.**

 **Thanks to January Lily whose review honestly just made my day!**

 **Also, thinking of naming the chapters because I'm so tired of them just being called chapter 1, 2, 3 etc. but I'm rubbish at naming things. It took me honestly like a year to even name this fic. So that probably won't happen. But it's my intention to do it.**

* * *

Not feeling like continuing the discussion of Mary's return the following day, a conversation that had started over breakfast that day, Marlene went to the dorm and grabbed her broom. Marrow had rescheduled today's practice to the afternoon. However, Marlene didn't think some extra practice would hurt. She had done a few practises with the team and although she wasn't as bad as she had expected, she wouldn't be able to win the match against Slytherin which, she had come to realise, was less than a month away.

She stepped out in the sunny but cold morning, the storm of last night having passed and left no trace behind except the thousands of red, yellow and orange leaves spread across the grounds of Hogwarts. She passed the greenhouses when voices from behind them distracted her. Marlene would have liked to tell people she was not one for eavesdropping, but that would have been a lie. Everything, from late homework to boyfriend trouble seemed to catch her ears. Although, she comforted herself, at least you don't go around gossipping about it. Like some others. And her thoughts were back on Mary, excellent. Shaking her head to clear her thoughts, she moved forward slowly. The leaves made loud creaks under her shoes. For once she wasn't wearing heels. Mostly because Mary wasn't there to wear heels, trying to stretch herself taller than Marlene. Truthfully Marlene believed high-heeled shoes were a means of torture, and her legs were transformed to cooked spaghetti every time she put her feet into them. Not that she'd admit this to anyone, least of all Lily who'd been saying just that for years, and Marlene had vehemently disagreed.

"He was impressed with your work this weekend."

Marlene was close enough to hear what was said behind the greenhouses.

"He'd like you to join us."

"Really?" Marlene knew the voice now talking sounded familiar.

"He'll test you, of course, to make sure you're capable."

"I am. I promise."

"We're meeting tonight, I'll get you from the common room."

Marlene realised the conversation was drawing to a close. She was also positive she would not want to still be standing where she was when the people talking would turn the corner. She had a nagging feeling that what they were discussing wasn't a club for gobstone lovers. Quickly, she slid the greenhouse door open and slipped inside, dashing down underneath a table to prevent the bypassers from seeing her, although she hoped to catch a glimpse of them. No more than twenty seconds after she slipped into the greenhouse two people passed by outside. Both were wearing their school uniforms and green ties despite the warm weather. One of them she recognized immediately and it made her stomach twirl; Mulciber. He was followed by a seventh year Slytherin student who Marlene recognized as Avery. Her thoughts were rushing in all directions before she could stop them. He? Meeting at eight? Your work this weekend. She startled and turned quickly when she heard a crash from the other end of the greenhouses. For a moment she thought Mulciber and Avery had seen her spying and had broken a window; then she spotted Frank.

"Oh," she said, crawling out from under the desk. "Hi."

"Hi," Frank replied, picking up the brick he had dropped.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Just doing some research for the essay," he said, nodding towards the parchment on the table beside him.

"One feet essay on healing plants." Professor Sprout's words came back to her. How could she have forgotten?

"What are you doing here?"

"I was on my way from the Quidditch pitch and I thought I felt a raindrop," she blurted; it was the first thing that came to mind.

"So, why were you under the table then?"

"I thought I saw the hair band I lost. Turns out I didn't."

"That's bad."

Marlene nodded.

"Well, I should be heading back to the castle," Frank said, grabbing his bag. "Sorry about your hair band."

"I'm going up to the castle too. Do you want company?"

"Sure." Frank shrugged and while he swung the bag over his shoulder, Marlene bent over to pick up her broom where it had been left.

They spent some minutes talking about normal school and homework, then another few about their families. Marlene learned that Frank had two older brothers, both of whom had left Hogwarts, and that his dad had died when he was little. When the conversation still didn't go the way Marlene wanted, she decided to do some meddling.

"So, Frank, what do you think of Alice?"

Frank, who just a minute ago had been quick to answer all her questions, hesitated and Marlene thought she saw a blush spread.

"She's…she's fine I guess."

"You can't seem to get your eyes off her."

Frank bit his bottom lip, and now he definitely blushed. "You notice that?"

Marlene would've liked to say that anyone failing to notice that must be blind, but she just smiled. "Yeah, sorry."

"No, it's okay really. She is just…" he trailed off.

"What?"

"She's just kinda cute…"

"Well, of course she is." Marlene laughed. "Alice is the cutest."

"I guess."

"She likes you too you know." Marlene knew there was no going back now.

"Really?"

"Really." Alice had never really admitted it out loud, but Marlene didn't care. It was so obvious. "I'm going to change, but I'm meeting the girls in the library after that. You wanna join us?"

"Really?" Frank furrowed his brows. "Will they be okay with that?"

"Of course, they all love you, some more than others." She smiled. They had reached the stairs to the dorm. "See you in a minute then."

* * *

"It's too late, isn't it?" Peter said, turning off the weather forecast. "The weather will be clear for weeks."

"Well, you never know about those things," Sirius said.

"There hasn't been one in autumn for years." Remus folded his arms around his knees.

"We might be lucky," Sirius pushed.

"Right…" Peter sighed. "because the universe has been on our side in this."

"There have been some mishaps, I admit, but I've got a good feeling about it this time."

"You've always got a good feeling," Peter reminded him.

"Maybe we should just give up," Remus suggested.

"No! Never," Sirius protested.

"Yes, it can take years, remember?" James put in.

"What's the point if it takes years? We'll be out of here by then," Remus sighed.

"Why would that make it worthless?" Peter asked, sitting down on the bed.

"Well, just because…we won't all still be friends then, will we? When school finishes."

"Of course we will, Moony!" James exclaimed. "We're the marauders, we're forever."

Remus smiled.

"Now, I'm starving. Who else wants breakfast?" Sirius asked.

"Still in pyjamas here, Pads." James gestured towards his plaid pyjama pants.

Sirius made an affair of sighing dramatically. "But Prongs! We're dying," he groaned.

"It's half past eleven, breakfast ended an hour ago," James said, glancing at his wristwatch.

"Then let's have lunch, I don't care." Remus stood up.

"Fine." James agreed and his stomach took the chance to growl.

Sirius grinned. "Yeah, you're just 'not that hungry', are you?"

James poked his tongue at him and, on his way to grab a t-shirt, he pushed Sirius onto the bed.

"I'll kill you, Prongs," Sirius exclaimed and, leaping off the bed, set off. James flung the door open and practically flew down the stairs. Losing his balance, he fell face first onto the common room floor.

He recovered quickly and he sprinted away just as Sirius came after him. Laughing hysterically, he ran across the common room and darted out through the Fat Lady's portrait. He continued sprinting down the corridor but Sirius quickly caught up with him and before he knew it James hung upside down. His t-shirt fell down over his face as he struggled to put himself free from the hex, even though he knew it was impossible.

"Let go of me, Padfoot!"

"Nope," Sirius grinned, looking up at his best friend. "You'll just hang there until you starve to death."

James let go of the hem of his t-shirt to grab his glasses, because they were threatening to fall off his nose. Then Sirius burst to action once again. His glasses fell to the floor as Sirius dragged the t-shirt over his head. Suddenly, James hung upside down, shirtless and as good as blind, in the corridor.

"Looking good, James!" Someone called as they passed and James made out Melody Holland and Helen Mills heading by.

"I'll kill you, Padfoot," James hissed.

"Fine, I'll let you down," Sirius announced and lifted the hex from James, who fell, face first, onto the floor.

"Oi, that hurt mate," James mumbled, sitting up and rubbing his nose which had now been the victim of two falls onto the floor in a short period of time.

"Sorry," Sirius said. "Looked like Holland enjoyed the show though."

"Only because she knows I hate it," James pulled his shirt back over his head.

"Whatever the reason, isn't it nice to have birds swooning after you? You've finally got a taste of what it's like being me."

"Our dear Prongs has only got time for one bird on his mind." Peter jumped over the missing step in the staircase.

"That's true," Remus agreed. "Never seen anyone so fixated on someone as Prongs is on Evans."

"It would be Snivellus," James muttered, still brushing dust from his jeans.

"True." Sirius shrugged. "He might actually be able to compete with you on that one."

"The only difference is they're actually friends," Remus pointed out. "And Lily actually likes him."

"As if that makes it more legit. Wouldn't it be more weird if I was obsessed with Padfoot than if that bird in fourth year was?" James pushed the glasses higher on the bridge of his nose.

"You are obsessed with Padfoot," Remus sighed.

"Well, I'm obsessed with Prongs too, so it's fine." Sirius put his arm around James and pulled him closer to him.

* * *

"Who is that with Marlene?" Alice asked Lily as Marlene approached them, worked her way past bookshelves and carriages filled with books. She was followed by someone else.

"Don't know," Lily responded. "We'll find out."

Marlene appeared behind the bookshelf on their left side, and following her was Frank Longbottom. Lily glanced at Alice, who nodded her head for Lily to follow her.

"We'll be back in a minute," Lily told Marlene, and dragged Alice with her away from the table.

"What?" Lily whispered as they moved out of earshot of the others.

"What is he doing here!" Alice replied forcefully.

"I don't know, Al, but it's not that bad."

"Not that bad?" Alice breathed. "Have you seen me around him Lily? I can't think a single rational thought, my hands are trembling and I sound like my grandmother whenever I open my mouth."

"You seemed just fine the other week, in the common room. Really, it looked like you didn't want to leave." Lily grinned.

"It was fine-" Alice began. Lily raised her eyebrows. "-okay, I admit, it was nice."

"Exactly."

"That was a one time thing."

"How do you know?"

Alice looked down. "I guess…"

"You don't," Lily offered. Alice nodded carefully.

"And so what if you act crazy? The bloke's mad for you anyways."

"He's not," Alice snorted a laugh. "Really?"

"I said I wouldn't tell you," Lily admitted. "But I kind of talked to Arnold."

"You did what? Lily you had no right to-"

"Calm down, Alice. I didn't tell him anything."

Alice drew a sigh of relief.

"He, however, told me Frank won't stop talking about you. Then he took it back, saying he didn't mean it."

"He does talk a lot," Alice admitted with a laugh. "But really? That's so…not at all the point. Every bloke seems nice and sweet to begin with. I mean, my father must've been charming and sweet once for my mum to ever fall for him."

"Not all guys are tossers you know. My dad isn't," Lily suggested. "Neither is Mary's, or Marlene's."

"I know they're not, but I can't just erase my entire childhood. My mum acting like a house elf whenever my father was around, her cooking for him and taking care of me when all she really wanted was to go back to work." Alice gestured wildly with her hands and Lily wasn't entirely sure what she meant with it. "All that won't just disappear."

Lily didn't know how to reply to this. She wanted to say something but her mind seemed unable to form the words needed for a sensible answer.

"Alice." She grabbed Alice's right wrist to prevent her from making a pile of books fall over. "Can we talk about this later? They'll start to wonder where we went."

Alice nodded and, without another word, the two of them went back to the table where the others were sitting.

Lily sat down next to Dorcas and Alice took the seat right across the table from Frank. While Alice joined in the others' conversation regarding whether the O.W. Ls were as bad as they were said to be, Lily took out last weekend's edition of the daily Prophet and opened it to the crossword page. She had yet to solve a bit of the left corner. She got more and more dragged into the discussion, however, and five minutes later she decided to abandon the attempts to solve number 3 horizontal "full of himself". Realising "James Potter" wouldn't fit into the five letters provided. She folded the paper and put it to the side as Marlene tried to convince the others the whole thing was over-hyped:

"You can't trust anything Will says, it can't be that bad."

"I think it is," Frank said. "My brother was about to collapse from stress when he came home for Christmas."

Well, that's calming," Lily said.

"It's not supposed to be calming," Alice said. "It's supposed to stress us out."

"I don't think that's the purpose." Marlene made circles with her finger on the table surface.

"I don't care," Alice said. "But honestly though. I can't believe you think it's made up. It can't be."

"What do you think, Dorcas?" Lily turned to her. She'd been quiet this whole time.

"I don't know." Dorcas shrugged. "It could be true, I guess."

"There's no way it's true." Marlene repeated herself.

* * *

Remus was still feeling warm and cosy inside when they arrived in the Great Hall for lunch. It had been a simple comment made in the moment, but he couldn't get it out of his mind: "Of course we will. We're forever." He had no idea what he'd done to deserve friends like them. They might not think about consequences of actions, nor were they world champions in acting maturely, but he could always count on them to do all in their power to fix whatever problem arose. Whether it was there was no chocolate cake at dinner, or finding out their best friend was a werewolf.

"Hey, Remus," Lily called out as they passed her and Marlene on their way to their usual seats further down the table. "I talked Aubrey into taking your patrol the other night, like you asked me too, so you'll have to go with me tonight."

"Oh…yes, that's fine." Remus was taken aback.

"Great, I'll meet you in the prefects' office at half past six."

"Fine." Remus nodded at her and smiled before being dragged away by the boys who thought someone was heading for "their" places at the table. In truth Remus knew that wasn't so; no one had ever tried to mess with their lunch space after James had made a show of hexing a second year who'd tried.

They'd barely sat down and started eating the chicken pie and potatoes before a knock on Remus' back made him look up. Above him stood Bertram Aubrey.

"Hi, Lupin," he sneered, leaning against the table. "I had to take your patrol last night, hope it was worth it."

Remus' stomach tightened, and he felt that after only one sentence they were already heading into dangerous waters.

"What did you say?" James fixed his eyes on Bertram.

"I said. I hope his little date was worth it."

"He didn't have a date." Sirius raised his voice and a few people around them turned.

"Oh? Really. Then what excuse did he have for not patrolling?"

"He didn't chose not to patrol." James was practically growling now.

"What was he doing then?"

"His mother got really sick, and he had to go home." Peter used the old lie Remus had told them back in first year.

The words seemed to escape Bertram for a moment before he found himself again.

"That's not true." He glared at Remus. "Your mother was sick back in first year, you always used that as an excuse to skip class and stuff?"

Everything happened so fast after that. James heaved himself over the table and grabbed a handful of chicken pie, which he threw on Bertram. Bertram was quick to return by smashing a potato onto James' robes. Sirius turned in his seat and with a simple movement, he poured his pumpkin juice over Bertram's well-arranged, blond hair. A twist with James' wand made Bertram fly backwards and almost knock over a group of first years at the Hufflepuff table. He was soon back on his feet and with his fist in the air he plunged forward and knocked James to the floor.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Sirius roared and drew his wand from his pocket. He yelled out a hex and Bertram's head began to swell. By the time Professor Terry reached them it was twice the size it had been less than a minute ago.

"What have you done here boys?" From the tone of her voice, you could've believed she was asking about the time.

"They started it!" Bertram yelped, holding his abnormally large head between his hands.

"No, he did." Sirius bit back.

"You threw pie at me!"

"You were being rude to Remus!"

Remus would've liked to listen to the rest of that conversation but he was getting worried for James, who'd fallen off the bench and lay on the floor with his eyes closed. Without a sound Remus slipped down from the bench and sat down next to James on the floor.

"How're you feeling Prongs?" he asked, stroking a strand of hair away from his face.

"Why's the room spinning?" James squinted his eyes open. "Why am I on the floor?"

"You got hit," Remus shrugged.

"I'm gonna kill that Aubrey. How dare he…?"

"I'm afraid Padfoot took care of that already," Remus nodded towards Aubrey, who was being led from the hall by his friends. "And as for my…little furry problem, don't worry about it."

"But-"

"You've done enough today to last you a lifetime." Remus smiled.

Professor Terry joined them on the floor.

"Are you okay, Potter?"

"My head hurts," James complained.

"Yes. I can see that." Professor Terry bent over him and put her hand over a bump on James' head.

"You'll need to have Madam Pomfrey look at that. Should I go with you?"

"No. Moony's got me, right?"

"Yeah." Remus laughed. "I've got you."

* * *

Lily, Marlene and Frank had left ten minutes before. Alice had offered to wait as Dorcas returned some books to Madam Pince.

None of them spoke until the library door closed behind them. Madam Pince might not hate Alice with a burning passion, but she still didn't appreciate people talking.

"How did you get so lucky?" Dorcas asked as they set off towards the Great Hall.

"What?"

"I don't know, it's just…you've got amazing friends." She shrugged. "And a bloke who's obviously mad for you."

"What do you mean?" Alice thought she already knew.

"Mary, Lily and Marlene are all amazing, and anyone who doesn't see Frank fancies you must be blind."

"Everyone keeps saying that," Alice sighed. "You know, you're not even the first person today."

"Maybe that's because it's true," Dorcas suggested, glancing up at her.

Alice shrugged. "It doesn't matter, it'll never happen anyways."

"Why?" Dorcas asked. "Is there some kind of Romeo and Juliet going on?"

"Romeo and Juliet?" Alice asked, frowning.

"Never mind," Dorcas shrugged the matter off. "But, you know, people won't just be around forever, unless you give them a reason to."

Alice thought Dorcas meant more then she said with that, but they'd reached the Great Hall and Dorcas walked over to the Hufflepuff table while Alice found Lily and Marlene at the end of the Gryffindor table.

"Lily, what in Merlin's name is Romeo and Juliet?" she asked as took some chicken pie from the plate in front of her.

"It's a Muggle story. Romeo and Juliet are in love but their families are in a feud so they can't be together, so they end up killing themselves."

"That's tragic," Marlene said.

"Well, it becomes less tragic when your sister's been watching it on repeat all summer and bawling her eyes out every fricking time." Lily plated up more chicken pie with such force some of it splattered the table next to the plate. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh nothing. Dorcas asked me if there was some 'Romeo and Juliet story' between me and Frank."

"Now why is that?" Marlene asked, leaning forward over the table. Alice wanted to knock herself out there and then. It'd slipped her mind that she hadn't actually told Marlene, or Mary, about how she felt for Frank, although she knew they had known for a long time anyways. When Alice just shrugged as an answer, Lily sighed.

"Oh for Merlin's sake, Al, just tell her."

Alice bit her lip and leaned in closer to Marlene to make sure no one around heard her.

"Okay," she said slowly. "I might, maybe, possibly, have some feelings for Frank."

"As in romantic feelings?" Marlene raised her eyebrows, making it clear she wouldn't give up until Alice said herself that she fancied him.

"No, as in I hate him feelings," Alice sighed. "Yes of course I'm talking about romantic feelings."

Marlene squealed and jumped up from her seat, hugging Alice around the shoulders and singing. "I knew it, I knew it, I knew it" until Alice dragged her down in her seat again.

"So…" Marlene's face bore a kind of excitement she'd never seen before. "What're we doing about it?"

"We're doing nothing about it," Alice said.

"What?" Marlene exclaimed. "How can you not do anything about it?"

"By, I don't know, not kissing him, maybe?"

"So you're thinking about kissing him?" Marlene squealed, louder than was really necessary.

Alice hushed her. "No. I don't know. I'll just sit it out, it's nothing but a silly school girl crush," Alice sighed, not knowing if it was her or the others she was actually trying to convince.

"If this is a silly school girl crush, I'd like to know what you call the feelings every girl in the school has for Sirius," Marlene mumbled, just loud enough for Alice to hear.

"For the most part I think what you're describing is anger," Lily laughed. "I still can't believe you're going to Hogsmeade with him. That's…" unable to find a reasonable comparison Lily just filled in: "mad. It's just mad."

Marlene nodded quickly but seemed more eager to discuss Alice's so called love life than her own. However Lily didn't look like she would let the Sirius matter go just yet. Alice was thankful. She was growing tired of every other discussion being about her and Frank's very much non-existent relationship.

"So…How are you feeling about it?" Lily smiled.

"Okay, I guess." Marlene shrugged. "Listen, Lily, he's nearly as much of a brother to me as James is. We're not getting 'involved' with each other or anything, don't get your hopes up."

"Don't worry, I won't," Lily murmured. "I see them enough as it is. I don't need the two of you sucking faces all the time."

"Woah, you're getting ahead of yourself, like, in another dimension ahead of yourself. We'll drink butterbeer and he'll drag me along to Zonko's. The fact that you're the least interested in this shows you really need a date yourself."

"No I don't," Lily said. "I've got enough on my plate as it is. Between homework and Prefect duties I barely have time to see you guys, much less a boyfriend of any sort."

Marlene seemed to ignore this completely.

"Come on, Lils, you could go up to any guy in this hall and ask him to Hogsmeade and the one person who would be Frank because he is in love with Alice." Marlene turned and looked at Alice.

"Yes, I got that," Alice sighed at the not so subtle change of subject.

"It doesn't matter anyways." Lily said, sounding more relieved than disappointed. "There's just a week left. Also, I told Alice and Dorcas I would go with them.

Alice nodded in agreement and Marlene finally seemed to give up on her self-awarded title as matchmaker.

* * *

Remus and Peter had returned to the common room after seeing James and Sirius off when they left the hospital wing for McGonagall's office. Madam Pomfrey had announced there was nothing wrong with James and given him a potion against possible headache.

"4 Sickles say McGonagall gives them two hours detention," Peter said.

"Two?" Remus frowned. "This isn't an everyday occasion, they made his head twice its normal size. I'll be surprised if they get any less than three."

Over the years, betting the other two's punishment had become somewhat of a hobby, something they did to make time pass whenever James and Sirius were off somewhere.

"Now, how about we play that game of exploding snap we never got to yesterday?" Peter suggested. "And this time you're coming with me to get the cards because I don't want to lose you to some bird again."

Remus laughed. "You'll never lose me to a bird," he said. "You others will get married and have kids, and I'll be old uncle Moony who comes and goes and disappears once a month."

Peter couldn't decide if Remus was sarcastic or not and simply let the comment go.

"Come on now. Let's get the cards."

Fifteen minutes later Peter had successfully won the first two rounds of the game at the cost of his left eyebrow and a bit of his hair. Before Sirius and James arrived back Remus' tie caught on fire and Peter had needed to put it out with his wand, and more of Peter's hair had fallen victim to the exploding cards.

"That bloody witch!" Sirius exclaimed, plopping into an armchair and declaring he joined the game.

"What did she do?" Peter asked.

"Double detention Saturday night."

Remus slipped four small silver coins from his pocket and into Peter's out stretched hand.

"I've already got detention Friday and now Saturday too? The lady has quite obviously lost her mind."

"How dare you say that about Minnie?" James squealed with much faked upset.

"I'm sorry Prongs, but anyone giving me, the brilliant and beautiful Sirius Black, that many detentions has lost it."

"Anyone calling you brilliant and beautiful has lost it," James said.

"I'm sorry, but who of us has got the most awesome hair?" Sirius made a point of throwing his hair out of his face.

"No Pads, I'm sorry, because that prize belongs to Peter, who decided it was time for a change." James nodded towards Peter's scorched ends. "So what's the score?"

"Two to nothing." Peter smiled proudly.

"I can work with that." James sat down at the table, waiting for Peter to hand him his cards.

"Are you in, Pads?" James asked.

"No, it's a stupid game." Sirius crossed his arms.

* * *

As she said goodbye to her parents, Mary found she didn't particularly like the thought of returning. Not because the parting with her friends at St. Mungo's had been less than ideal, but because of the rumours she knew had spread all over Hogwarts. There were always rumours spreading about the silliest things (Mary wasn't exactly proud to admit how many of them she'd been involved in starting), so doubtless speculations would be going around now and they'd be taken for the truth.

"Goodbye sweetie." Her mum kissed her cheek. "We'll see you at Christmas."

"Stay safe," her dad said.

"I'll try." Mary grinned.

"Mary," her mum said pointedly. She'd been reluctant to let Mary return to school.

"Ok, I'll stay safe. Promise."

"Mary, Mary!" Her sister came running down the hall and threw herself into Mary's arms. "I'll miss you this much." She held her arms as far away from each other as possible.

"I'll miss you too." She pulled her sister into another hug before releasing her and turning to the fireplace. Dumbledore had told her their fireplace would be connected to the Floo powder net temporarily, to make sure she got back to the school safely. Reaching forward, she took a handful of Floo powder from the bag Dumbledore had given her, and threw it into the fireplace.

"Mary!" Lily threw her arms around her. "How are you?"

"I'm fine." Mary laughed. "Feeling a bit strangled right now."

"Sorry." Lily let her go.

"What happened?" Alice asked. "The Healer wouldn't tell us."

"Probably because they didn't know, it wasn't a recognisable curse."

"So you mean-"

"It's not registered with the Ministry, and they've never seen it before." Mary nodded.

"Mulciber is nasty, I've always said that," Lily said.

"Where's Marls?" Mary asked, changing the subject. She didn't feel like discussing it.

"She's got Quidditch practice," Alice said. "We're on our way down there to watch."

"Not me," Lily sighed. "I've got patrol."

"But you'll come with us, right?" Alice asked. Mary hesitated, she wasn't sure if Marlene was

who she wanted to see right now.

"Please, Mary," Dorcas begged.

"Okay, okay. I'll come."

Lily went up the stairs from the entrance hall while Alice and Dorcas dragged Mary with them out through the front doors.

* * *

Remus opened the door to the prefect office at twenty minutes over six. He was early, but James and Sirius had gone for practice and Peter had tagged along, leaving Remus alone either way. The room felt homely, with portraits of previous Head Boys and Girls covering the walls and a small sofa in the middle of the room. On one wall, there was a cork board displaying the patrolling shifts and the names of the people covering them. 22nd September was lit up and in neat letters was written: Remus Lupin, Lily Evans and on the note underneath that: Hestia Jones, Jacob Cooper.

He proceeded to look at the photographs of Head Boys and Girls on the wall opposite. Some of them were business-like, sitting or standing with straight backs and stern faces, looking into the camera with polished badges pinned on their chests. Others were goofy, with the newly appointed Head Boy and Girl doing silly poses and laughing together. One photo close to the end of the row caught his eye and he moved closer to read the engraved letters on the board underneath it. Celine Black, Thomas Myers. 1902. Thomas' arm was around Celine's shoulders and while Remus looked Celine slipped her arm behind him and did bunny ears behind his head, causing them both to break out laughing.

The door creaked behind him and he turned to see Lily enter the room.

"Sorry I'm late," she apologized. "Mary came back."

"It's fine, I was entertained."

"By the photos?" Lily asked, amused.

"They're actually interesting," Remus told her. "Look at this one." He pointed to the photo of Cecilia and Thomas. Lily went over.

"She was a Slytherin, a Black." Lily noted. "And he-"

"Was a Gryffindor, " Remus finished. "And muggleborn, judging by the last name."

"They look happy," Lily said.

"They do." Remus agreed, but his thoughts were elsewhere, on Celine's family. She had been a

Black, like Sirius, and she seemed quite different too.

"You know, we should really start our shift," Lily noted, glancing at her wristwatch. "It's nearly fifteen to seven."

Nodding, Remus followed her out of the office.

"I've talked to Hestia Jones," Lily said as they walked up the stairs. "We'll take floor three

through seven and she and Jacob will cover the rest."

Remus nodded again.

They had walked for another ten minutes, covering the left wing of the third floor, when Lily

took a deep breath as if preparing to say something.

"I know why you missed patrols the other night."

Everything seemed to freeze. The candles stopped flickering, the trees outside the window no

longer swayed in the wind, he thought the entire earth might have stopped spinning.

"You…you do?" he managed to say.

"Yes, and I'm sorry, really."

"You….you….you won't tell anyone, right?"

"Do I come across like the kind of person who'd go around and gossip?" Lily frowned. "I might

need to reconsider my entire existence."

"No!" Remus exclaimed. "No, I'm just…a bit paranoid."

"Does anybody else know about it?" she asked.

"The boys do, and the teachers of course. But no one else."

"That makes me feel quite clever," Lily smiled.

"You should have known since before you're clever, you're top of our class."

"Not Transfiguration, bloody Potter and his bloody talent. No offence," she added with a smile.

"None taken." Remus laughed. For some reason it was hard to take her seriously. "How did you

figure it out?"

"Well, you never miss school. Even that time you had a cold you went, and you started an epidemic."

"That makes me feel better," Remus mumbled, not meaning to sound as unpleasant as the words came out.

"I'm sorry."

"It's fine."

"But every time, you missed classes the day after the full moon. Every time. Then you asked me to reschedule your patrol on the night of the full moon because you were feeling 'under the weather'."

Remus begged to every higher power there was that no one else would be as thoughtful as Lily. He could trust she wouldn't tell, but the next person to make the connection might not be as kind hearted as the girl walking calmly beside him right now, like she hadn't just found out he was a monster.

"Aren't you going to run from me?" he asked.

"Why would I?" Lily frowned at him "We're friends, this doesn't change anything."

"But…I'm a monster."

"You're not a monster, Remus. You are a kind, funny and smart person who just happens to transform to a werewolf once a month. It's really not scarier than an Animagus. Personally, I've never seen anyone run screaming when McGonagall says she can transform to a cat." She shrugged. "They might be running screaming from her for other reasons though, she's pretty scary when she feels like it," She added as an afterthought.

"I have no control when I transform," Remus tried. "I could hurt anyone."

"I will make sure to keep away then," Lily smiled. It sounded so simple when she put it that way, but she didn't know. Not really. You had to see it firsthand to understand what a monster he really was.

* * *

 **A/N: That's it for now. A bit shorter then usual, but next chapter is a really long one so look forward to that.**

 **As usual, reviews make me smile!**


	6. Just A Kiss

**A/N Hey look! It's only been two weeks and I'm here again! Aren't you proud?**

 **Ok, all jokes aside, this chapter is by far the longest this far. Almost 10,000 words, and lot's of things happening in those ten thousand words.**

 **R &R**

 **/Liz**

* * *

Mary was up with the sun that morning. She couldn't even remember the last time that had happened, but soon the dorm would be filled with noise and disturbance as the other girls woke up and got ready. Mary wanted to be finished by then, and preferably out of the dorm. She couldn't deal with Marlene today.

Going out with Cody had only been another move to irritate Marlene, but as time passed Mary found herself actually looking forward to it. But when the day arrived she felt thirteen again and over the top with excitement.

She bit her lip and told herself to pull it together, she didn't even like him. However, as she looked up at the bathroom mirror, her eyes shone and her cheeks blushed (although that might have been from how cold the room was) with excitement. She opened her bedside cabinet and searched for a moment before she found the lip gloss she was looking for. Returning to the bathroom, she was just making sure everything was in place, when she was interrupted by a very moody Lily in search of a bandage.

* * *

Sirius had now spent half an hour in front of the mirror, trying to make his hair fall the casual way it normally did, but this morning it just wouldn't work. None of the others were awake to notice it, and had they been it would not have passed as something unusual. But to Sirius it was a bad sign. As opposed to James, whose hair never cooperated, Sirius' hair was almost always working with him. When it suddenly didn't, it made him nervous. Someone was trying to send him a sign, telling him this was a bad idea.

Giving up on the idea of a casual look, Sirius opened the cabinet next to the mirror and took out the bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion. Pouring a few drops of the potion into his hand, he dragged it through his hair and immediately it lay down flat. He didn't really like the look it gave him, like a combination of his brother and a wet puppy. He heard someone try to pull the bathroom door open behind him, but ignored it. As he ran another hand through his hair trying to fix it, Remus' voice came through the door.

"For fuck's sake Padfoot. Stop fixing your bloody hair. I need to shower."

* * *

Lily could not figure out what she had done to deserve the morning she woke up to. It was bitterly cold, which meant that, no matter how much she tried to avoid it, she would be red as a tomato by the end of the day. Also, her things seemed to disappear before her eyes. It wasn't, as Mary suggested while pulling a sweater over her head, an effect of her not keeping organised, there must've been nifflers hiding in the curtains or something (although, why nifflers would be interested in her toothbrush, she didn't know). And as if that wasn't enough to put you in a bad mood, her cat had decided to wake her that morning by giving her a nice scratch on her lower arm and the bandage she'd put on to cover it was itching.

She spent five minutes going through her things in search of her hairbrush but in the end borrowed Alice's and made sure to put it back before she woke up.

* * *

Remus stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. He looked down at the scars on his arms. Some of them were old, others shining pink where the skin hadn't fully recovered yet. He would have to wear a shirt that would cover all of them, to avoid questions he wouldn't want to answer. James and Sirius always made up excuses and explanations as to where they came from if anyone asked, but today he'd be alone.

His cheeks were already growing a bit red and the day hadn't even begun yet. Time after time, he reminded himself that she had been the one to ask him out, so he must be at least a little bit interesting.

He took his wand from the sink and used it to dry his hair. Putting his bathrobe back on, he went out of the bathroom and opened the wardrobe.

* * *

Alice had no intention of "getting ready" for Hogsmeade. She planned to wake up, draw a brush through her hair, find some clothes to wear (preferably clean) slip her feet into her very comfortable boots and go to breakfast. Mary, however, had other plans. She was all done by the time Alice woke up and therefore spent all her time trying to convince Alice to 'dress up'.

After twenty minutes Alice gave up. She sat down in a chair and let Mary put makeup on her. Once Mary announced she was done, Alice stood and went over to the mirror. It looked good, but she didn't feel like herself. It was like someone had put a second skin on her, and it made her uncomfortable. Mary seemed to think she'd done enough and let Alice choose clothes by herself.

She cursed the cold weather as she flipped through the dresses, looking for something that she wouldn't freeze in. She was halfway through pulling the dress over her head when Marlene stormed past her, yelling to everyone who would listened that she was late.

* * *

Peter woke to the sound of a door closing and guessed it was Remus and Sirius leaving for breakfast. The window by the bathroom was unhooked and smashed open and closed in the wind.

Sighing, Peter pulled the blanket tighter around him and considered staying in bed all day. No one would care, really. Then he remembered he was all out of Bertie Bott's Beans, and asking his mother to send him some wouldn't do any good. He rolled out of bed with a small groan and with sleep in his eyes he stumbled into the bathroom and closed the door. He turned the taps and let the cold water run over his face. Then, looking up, his eyes met his reflection in the mirror.

He would never live up to the others. He was fat and ugly, and without the other Maruaders he would have been the official Hogwarts punching bag. He'd always been the least superior of the group, the one with the lowest grades (despite trying really hard to keep up with the others' work), the one anyone was always the least interested in. His dad would have been so disappointed.

* * *

Twenty minutes after she'd gotten out of bed (by which time she would normally have been ready and on her way down to breakfast) Marlene still stood in front of the mirror with her wand in one hand and a hairbrush in the other, trying to make her hair fall in natural curls. So far all she'd managed to create was even worse bed hair than she had woken up with.

It wasn't until then she started questioning why she was even dressing up. She was going to Hogsmeade with Sirius Black, and it wasn't like she had time either, she was already a few minutes late to breakfast and no closer to satisfied than when she'd started. She told herself that the temptation to the nicer clothes in the wardrobe was only selfish, that she'd feel better if she looked good.

Ten minutes later she gave up on achieving an extraordinary hairstyle. She put the wand on the drawer in front of her and just brushed through her hair like she normally did.

Now actually worrying she wouldn't have time to eat breakfast, and knowing she wasn't good company on an empty stomach, she threw on the first thing she found in the wardrobe, put her bag over her shoulder and left the dorm.

* * *

Blinking the sleep out of his eyes, James reached for the glasses on the nightstand. He reassured Peter he would be done in a minute before slipping into the bathroom. His hair stood up in all directions. James ran a hand through it, totally ignoring the bottle of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion on the sink. He grabbed the cologne from the bathroom cabinet, although he knew that under the thick robes needed for the cold day it wouldn't be noticeable, nor would anyone care if he smelled good. He did it more out of habit, because he always hoped someone would notice it. A certain redhead with shining green eyes who occupied most of his thoughts, this morning like every other. He tried to get her out of his mind, but after a moment he gave up. He couldn't remember the last time trying to get her out of his mind had worked.

He was about to go out from the bathroom when he reached forward and took the bottle of Sleekeazy's and put it back in the bathroom cabinet, cursing Sirius for never cleaning up.

* * *

It was totally natural Marlene hadn't appeared yet, Sirius reassured himself as he began his second helping of porridge, there were still ten minutes before Filch would even start letting them go. Sirius had eaten way too much and his stomach growled in discomfort. He didn't know how much of it was from nervousness and how much was from eating too much.

Remus, across the table from him, had barely touched his egg and bacon when Caroline Grant came over and asked if they should go. Remus nodded stiffly and left his untouched plate on the table. It disappeared on its own not long after.

Not more than a minute could've passed between Remus leaving, and Lily and Alice taking his place at the table.

"Marls overslept. She'll be here any minute," Lily informed him. He nodded and took another big portion of porridge, at least knowing now that she hadn't chickened out.

"I don't know about any minute…she talked about curling her hair." Alice laughed, putting her toast down on the plate. "She actually seemed quite excited."

Sirius nodded again and kept eating. The others were also quiet until, five minutes later, Marlene appeared through the front doors of the hall. She sat down at the table and began by announcing that hair curling was highly overrated. Sirius grinned at her.

"Rough morning, McKinnon?"

"Don't you think we're past last name basis?" Marlene glanced up from buttering her toast.

"Nope."

"Well, aren't I just lucky?" she scoffed with a laugh.

"You two are unbelievable," Lily huffed under her breath. Sirius sent her a pointed look. "Come on, Al, let's leave the lovebirds to get on with it." Her eyes fixed on Sirius as she and Alice joined the growing crowd of students heading out of the hall to get checked off the list by Mr. Filch.

"We're not lovebirds!" Sirius called after them, but they were so far off by then that he realised it was useless.

The hall was emptying fast and the crowded and loud atmosphere present when Sirius had come down there twenty minutes earlier had now disappeared completely as excited students headed outside on their way down to Hogsmeade.

"So…you look nice," Sirius tried, feeling the obvious tension that had settled once Lily and Alice had left.

"So do you. Did you do something with your hair?"

"Some Sleekeazy," Sirius explained quickly, and then they had nothing to talk about again.

"You know. I can take this with me," Marlene offered, holding up her sandwich. "Then we can get going."

Sirius nodded and rose from the bench. They made their way through the Entrance Hall, which was still crammed with people waiting to meet up with students from other houses. Reaching Filch, they tried to get their names checked off the list. Filch, however, was not in a nice mood.

"Is that a sandwich?" he asked grumpily.

"Well… yes," Marlene replied, apparently unsure what was to come. Sirius, however, had during the past months had enough dealings with the new caretaker to know you didn't get past him with anything.

"You can't take that out of the school."

"Oh crap," Sirius sighed, turning to Marlene. "I forgot all about that. We can wait here, so you can finish it."

"No, it's fine," Marlene said and she threw what was left of the sandwich in the bin next to Filch who, huffing and glaring at them as they passed, checked their names off the list.

"You didn't have to do that," Sirius said when they were well out of earshot from Filch.

"Believe me, I had to," she snorted a laugh. "You looked like you might punch him, I had to get

us away from there or you would've been in detention." Sirius looked at her.

"I was fine-"

"It was just a sandwich," Marlene reassured him, breathing in the fresh autumn air. "Oh right.

I've got detention tonight, so I'll need to leave early. Sorry."

"I'm not really the person who can get mad at someone for screwing up plans because of detention, am I?"

"Guess not." Marlene smiled.

"What did you do?"

"I punched Mary, in St. Mungo's. Remember?"

"Believe me. I'll never forget that." Sirius smirked.

"I should regret it, but I don't really. She was a bitch to me."

"Just because of the Cody thing?"

"No…it's not just that. I guess…" Marlene hesitated. "I guess I'm mostly just sick of people mixing us up, you know?"

"Now that you say it, you two really look alike."

"That. That's exactly what I'm talking about." Marlene jabbed her finger at him, causing Sirius to stumble a few steps away from her. "So, since people think we're siblings, or cousins, they start comparing us like we are…" She stopped. "You know what? You don't want to hear about my problems. Let's talk about Quidditch instead."

"No, Marls. Tell me."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Okay then…" She breathed. "It's like this: I've already got Mike and Will, and Mickey, and everyone is expecting me to do as well as Mike, or be as popular as Will, or as cute as Mickey and Mary just becomes someone else I need to compete with and be better than. It's hard, you know."

"Come on, Marlene." Sirius shook his head and laughed. "It's Mary MacDonald we're talking about. She is not gonna run for Minister of Magic. You, on the other hand, might. Someday."

Marlene smiled.

"If I live that long."

"What are you talking about? Don't tell me you've got dragon pox and the healers have given you six months to live or any of that bullshit. Because then James would kill himself, and then I would kill myself and I just kind of like this whole being alive thing."

"No, stupid," Marlene said, her voice dropping. "I just mean, with Voldemort and everything."

"Why would they kill you? You're pureblood, and from what I know, you haven't let down an entire family who just happens to have some contacts in that community," Sirius snorted a laugh.

"I'm practically doomed to death."

"I'll want to fight," Marlene admitted. "I will not sit and look as they kill off my friends and family. I would drop out of school and join some type of army now if that was a possibility."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully. He had never thought about that as a possibility. He'd figured the Aurors would do the job and he would be forced to stand on the sideline and watch.

"You know. As soon as we're out of here, we will fight. But for today, let's just have fun and pretend like none of that is real," Sirius suggested, throwing his arm around Marlene's shoulder.

"You know what, Black?" Marlene put her hand around his waist. "That sounds like an impeccable idea."

* * *

"I'm halfblood. I mean, both my parents are magic, but I think I had a great grandmother or something who was Muggle," Caroline explained and took another sip of her butterbeer. A bit of foam got stuck on her nose, and she dried it off with a small giggle. "What about you?"

"Oh, well…" Remus was taken aback at the question. This far Caroline had done most of the talking. Not that he minded really. "As far as I know my dad is a pureblood. My mum's a Muggle though."

"So, you know like a lot of stuff about Muggles then?" Caroline asked, leaning forward over the table. To be honest Remus didn't. His mother's family had cut all contact with them after Remus got bitten, and although his mother tried her best to educate him on Muggle life, it wasn't easy when they couldn't stay in the same place for long.

"I know a bit." He shrugged, although he left out that most of it was due to Muggle Studies in school.

"I've always found it fascinating," Caroline admitted. "I'd like to work with Muggles after school."

Remus nodded and took another bite of the cake he had ordered.

"Where do you want to go after this?" Caroline asked and finished the last of her butterbeer.

"Because I think we should leave here. That couple has been waiting for a table forever." She nodded towards a couple standing by the door.

"We could go by Honeydukes," Remus suggested, remembering his chocolate supply in the dorm was quickly emptying because of James' habit to "borrow" chocolate from him.

"Oh yes. I love Honeydukes," Caroline said. "Their chocolate is the best."

Nodding quietly, they began down the main street in silence.

"It's cold outside," he noted when they walked through the doors of the Honeydukes. Talking about the weather, isn't that original.

Caroline nodded. "It really is."

The small store was crammed, as usual, and as opposed to outside, it was hot in there. Remus made his way over to the chocolate shelves, wishing to make their visit as short as possible. He took the coins out of his pocket, the three galleons and two sickles falling into his hand. Taking two chocolate bars from the middle shelf, he turned to Caroline. Even Remus thought the number of sweets she carried couldn't possibly be eaten by one person.

"My sisters want me to send some home for them," she explained, looking at him.

"You've got sisters?" Remus was happy for the self-presented topic of conversation.

"Two of them. They are both out of Hogwarts by now," Caroline said. "Should we pay?"

Out on the street Remus suggested they found some place less crowded since he, after the Three Broomsticks and Honeydukes, felt slightly claustrophobic.

"There's a shop in the backstreet. They sell all different kinds of junk," Caroline said.

"Sure." Remus fell into step beside her as she led the way between two houses. He could see

the sign to the Hogs Head further down the street, but Caroline walked the other way.

The shop felt tiny, although Remus doubted it was much smaller than Honeydukes. It was so cluttered he couldn't figure out how you were supposed to move at all without sending every object in the room to the floor. Every available surface was covered in shelves, and different tables and dressers took up most of the room. The sun had broken through the clouds and shone in through the front windows, lighting up every single mote of dust floating around the room.

"I just love the smell of old books," Caroline sighed, breathing in. "Don't you?"

"Yes, much better than…new books," Remus said, sliding between a table and bookcase to look at a crystal ball further into the store. Caroline smiled and let out a laugh.

"How did you find this place?" Remus' eyes moved from the crystal ball to the book it stood on.

"My cousin used to work here." She nodded towards the cashier. It wasn't until now Remus had noticed the old man behind a counter in the very back of the room. "That's not him," she filled in.

"I guessed that much."

Caroline snorted a laugh. "No, he quit a while ago." She moved down the aisle next to him.

"Sorry, what's this?" Remus held up a set of mirrors to the cashier.

"That, my boy!" the man said, hurrying out from behind the corner. "Is a two-way mirror."

Remus smiled politely at the man. "Yes, it says so on the tag."

"Well, you see, it looks like a regular mirror." Remus looked down into the blank surface of the glass and, as the man suggested, saw his own reflection look back at him. "But, you see, if you have one mirror and someone else has the other one, you can talk to each other through them."

"Talk to each other?" Remus furrowed his brows at the man.

"Yes, here." He stepped forward and took one of the mirrors from Remus. "Now, if you look into the mirror and say 'Mr. Patel'."

Feeling very stupid, Remus looked back down at his reflection. "Mr. Patel." His face in the mirror seemed to dissolve and reveal Mr. Patel instead.

"You see?" Mr. Patel handed the mirror back to him.

"Yes," Remus said.

"Do you want them?"

"I'll think about it."

They would come in handy, possibly as a complement to the Marauders' map, but there were only two of them. Remus turned the mirror in his hand to look at the price tag. It wasn't all that cheap either. Maybe as a Christmas gift, he thought, turning it back so the glass was up.

"Are you done?" Caroline asked, showing up behind him.

"Yeah," Remus sighed. "I'll just buy these."

* * *

He had taken her to Madam Puddifoot's. It wasn't as cramped as the last time Mary had been here, maybe because it wasn't Valentines Day. Sitting at a table in the back, Cody had ordered in an afternoon tea, even though it was only lunchtime. Most of the biscuits and tea were gone, leaving only the sandwiches. Mary had never really liked them, but now she reached out and took one from the plate anyway, just so she'd have something to do. They hadn't said much really, which might be why the biscuits had gone so fast. Swallowing the last of the small sandwich, she made an attempt at pleasant conversation.

"How's school?" She was not good at making small talk, not good at all.

"Fine." It was even harder when the other part didn't offer anything.

"Is the tea good?" Mary nodded at his half-empty cup.

"Yeah."

"You're not much for talking are you?" She tilted her head.

"Why would you say that?"

"Probably because what you just said is the most words you've said today." She smiled.

"Sorry, you're just too bloody fit." As always, the flattery won her over. Mary knew she was being weak and that she should stand up for herself and not let it get to her, but she couldn't help it. It was nice.

Once he'd said it, she couldn't stop herself noticing just how good looking he was. The straight and defined nose, blue sparkling eyes and thick, soft lips. She stopped herself from leaning over the plate of dry sandwiches and kissing him, she'd wait, until he tried to kiss her.

Paying Madam Puddifoot for the food, they went out in the cold again. Mary was on her way out to the main street again when Cody took her arm and led her in the other direction, away from the streets and up a small hill with a large crooked tree on top. The ground beneath it was cluttered with red, orange and yellow leaves and the green grass was barely visible underneath them.

Leaning against the bole of the tree, Cody dragged her in and their lips touched. At first it was a gentle peck, like you would kiss an old grandmother on the cheek when greeting her. Then he slid his hand out of hers and put in on her back, pressing her closer to him. Mary felt the rush through her body. Suddenly the cold weather wasn't bothering her. Slipping her hands around his neck, she pressed herself closer. His lips ran over hers in a gentle yet firm movement and she was enjoying every bit of it, the way he ran his fingers through her hair and how every part of him was pressed against hers. It felt like an eternity before they broke apart. He still held her close though as he said, a little out of breath,

"You certainly know how to kiss, MacDonald."

"You weren't too bad either." Luckily flattery worked the other way around, because Cody leaned forward and kissed her again.

* * *

Finally they were able to get a table, one of the corner booths. While Alice and Dorcas sat down, Lily went over to the bar to order butterbeers. Ten minutes later, after working her way through a long line and waiting for the butterbeer to arrive, she was working her way back through the room. As she balanced the tray in one hand, she wished she could use magic outside of school.

"Three Butterbeers," she announced as she put them down on the table.

"Thank you," Alice said in a sing song voice and took her glass.

Lily had just emptied her glass when Frank and Arnold stepped through the door. Knowing, from her walk to and from the bar, that the selection of tables was limited, and since they had space left at their table Lily called them over. This made Alice send her a murdering glare.

"I'll go order." Frank put a shopping bag down on an empty chair and disappeared.

"How's your day?" Lily asked Arnold, who had sat down on another of the empty chairs.

"It's fine. It's cold though, don't you think? Hogsmeade weekends always seems to be scheduled at the worst weekends, it was like this last year too. Bright sunlight, and then all of a sudden it's full on storm," Arnold rambled. "Right, Frank?" he added as his friend returned to the table, carrying two butterbeers and a bowl of popcorn. Arnold glanced between Alice, on the bench immediately to his right, and Frank, standing beside him. Reacting quicker than Lily would've expected, given that he had now entered an argument about popcorn, Arnold stood and moved over, leaving the chair beside Alice empty. Frank sat down, eyeing his friend with an expression Lily couldn't read, before he offered the popcorn to Alice.

"So, it's almost the first Quidditch game," Arnold said. "What do you think about it?"

"The Slytherin team really is bette-" Dorcas begun, before she was cut off by the others booing.

"How can you say something like that?" Arnold exclaimed.

"Gryffindor rules," Alice filled in, with more passion and aggression than ever otherwise.

"Down with the snakes!" Frank agreed, roaring.

"Let's hear the Hufflepuff out," Lily suggested, shaking her head at the enthusiasm of the others.

"She is obviously the only sensible one."

Dorcas sighed. "Slytherin are a better team at core, but Gryffindor are better trained."

This time, her statement was only followed by a disgruntled murmur.

"Blimey, what is going on here?" Lily didn't need to turn to recognise the voice of James bloody Potter.

"Quidditch," Arnold informed him.

"Down with the snakes!" James echoed Frank. Again, Lily shook her head and sighed. Sure, she

cheered for Gryffindor at the school games, and she would be happy if they won, but really. Was

Quidditch enough of a reason to get someone admitted to the hospital, because she was only waiting for some Slytherin to overhear them and start a duel.

"So, is the team ready for the game, Potter?" Frank asked.

"Possibly, all depending on whether the Chaser and Beater have time to get together and break up before the match."

"Not too happy with that?" Lily asked him.

"They were here earlier, canoodling in the booth over there." James nodded toward one of the

backer tables. "Merlin knows where they went now."

"Okay, first of all. Canoodling?" Lily furrowed her brows at him.

"Maybe not," James admitted. "But they were like…laughing and…touching."

"So, like friends?"

James murmured something inaudible and, without any kind of invitation, he sat down in the chair next to Lily.

"Can you just tell me if you see them?" he asked.

Sirius' words in the hospital cafe came back to her. "Don't tell Marlene, but he can be very protective of her, and me." She thought maybe those words had some truth to them.

"I might," she teased.

"Come on Evans. Be a little nice." James messed up his hair which, for the past minutes had actually lain flatter than normal, and fired off one of those typical James Potter smiles.

"If you go buy me another butterbeer, I might." Perhaps she was using the situation, but she wanted more butterbeer and she didn't want to stand in line again.

James returned a few minutes later, Peter following behind him, and placed down a butterbeer on the table. It was nice and hot, not like what was left at the bottom of Lily's glass.

"Back to Quidditch again then?" Alice suggested and everyone else seemed to agree. With James and Peter's arrival, the table had gotten cramped. Lily was sitting a bit too close to James to be comfortable so, since she had no interest in discussing Quidditch, she carefully slipped out of the booth and out of the pub.

She had the intention of stopping by Scrivenshaft's Quill Shop to load up on quills, not because she was really running low on them, the opposite really. However, she was distracted by voices from behind the pub. She wasn't one to snoop, but she recognised those voices. Knowing the leaves on the ground would reveal her presence, should she step on one of them, she creeped forward.

Sitting on the fence enclosing the backyard of the Three Broomsticks was Marlene.

She had a bottle of butterbeer in her hand.

Sirius was next to her, leaning against the fence. Taking the bottle of butterbeer from her, Sirius took a sip. Laughing at the foam moustache on his top lip, Marlene leaned forward to wipe it off. Sirius took a fast grip around her arms and held them fast around his neck.

"You know…" Marlene began. "James would have a fit if he saw us."

"Why? We're just having fun." Sirius wiped the remains of the foam from his face.

"You're hugging me. You don't hug people."

"I could hug people."

Marlene laughed and her face fell down and rested on Sirius' shoulder.

"What?"

"I've known you for five years, and not once have you hugged me." Marlene tilted her head to

look up at him.

"I have hugged you plenty of times."

"You haven't!" Marlene protested.

"I have too." Sirius moved his face closer to hers.

"Nope."

Lily turned, not wanting to watch anymore. Their faces were too close for her liking. Resisting the urge to cover her eyes and ears while announcing she was stepping in, she started walking in the opposite direction. Looking straight forward and trying to stop her mind from wandering away, she kept walking. Not until she heard the bell above the store door go off did she stop.

Keeping her mind on the quills she was about to buy she strolled around the store for a while, still allowing herself to be fascinated by the hundreds of different quills. If she had an unlimited vault of money she would undoubtedly spend half of it buying quills in different forms. She did not, however, have unlimited money and she had to stop herself from taking down the more expensive ones from the higher shelves. Still, five years into her life as a witch, it enchanted her. Not necessarily the quills, but the entire world. How things suddenly appeared from nothing, and how things that were there weren't actually there.

Finally leaving the shop, with only one too many new quills in her bag, Lily returned to the Three Broomsticks.

"Did you find them?" James asked, making room for her at the table as she returned.

"No," Lily lied, not knowing why. It wasn't possible, was it, that she was actually protecting James' feelings? No, it couldn't be. It was Marlene, she told herself, she was protecting Marlene from…something. Lily took the last pieces of popcorn from the bowl and tried to clear her thoughts; she was being ridiculous.

* * *

Alice might actually murder them. They were plotting against her. She had a plan, and they were messing with it.

"What do you think?" Frank asked, drawing her back to reality.

"Oh…what?"

He nodded towards the empty popcorn basket. "Did you like them?"

"Yeah. I don't think I've ever eaten them here before."

"I could get some more," Frank offered.

"Oh, it's fine," she assured him. "Thanks anyways."

She looked at Lily, who was grinning widely, across the table. Alice stuck out her tongue

before returning her gaze to Frank.

"So you've got two brothers?"

"Yeah, Will and Andrew."

"I've always wanted siblings," Alice said, more to herself than Frank.

"You don't have any?"

"No, it's just me. And mum and dad of course."

"That's unusual for big pureblood families. Only having one kid."

"Yeah." Alice licked her lip. "Now that you say it…we're not really a 'big' pureblood family."

"Okay, mediocre pureblood family then."

Alice laughed.

"I'll go get some more popcorn either way." Frank stood. "You sure you don't want anything?"

"No, it's fine."

"And you 'don't like him'?" Lily leaned in closer towards her as Frank left.

"You know I do. I've admitted it," Alice sighed. "Just get off my back for Merlin's sake."

Now that the lunch rush had passed the bar was as good as deserted, so when the bell above the door went off Alice turned to see who'd entered. Two blond girls entered and walked across the room to the bar.

"Hi! Frank!" Alice heard their voices from across the room.

"I love your robe," one of them said, reaching forward and brushing something invisible from the arm of Frank's robes. Alice was surprised to find she wanted to run forward and hex her into

the next century.

Alice looked to Lily, who was also looking at them, something poisonous in her eyes.

"Who's that?" Alice asked.

"It's Louise, and Ivy," Dorcas said. She too was glancing at the girls at the bar, though much less 'if you come over here I might kill you' in her eyes than Lily. Her eyes rather said, 'if you come over here I might faint.'

"I thought Louise was Slytherin?" Lily nodded towards the yellow Hufflepuff scarf the shorter of the girls had flung over her shoulders.

"She is," Dorcas confirmed.

"I guess that's not something you go flaunt all over town these days." Alice reached into her bag, looking for a lip balm.

"Yeah but isn't the Hufflepuff scarf a little much?" Lily furrowed her brows.

Dorcas shrugged as Frank returned to the table.

"Do you know them?" Lily nodded towards the two girls, who'd now taken a table in the back of the bar.

"I know Louise. Well, our families know each other." Frank shrugged, offering the popcorn basket to Alice. "They're at our Christmas party every year."

Alice looked to Dorcas again. She was still looking hesitantly at the two girls.

"Dorcas? Are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Dorcas said, looking away from the girls. "I'm fine."

* * *

"I've had fun," Caroline said as they strolled down the main street.

"Yeah." Remus swallowed, thinking he knew what would come next.

"So…would you like to, I don't know, do it again sometime?"

He'd thought, known perhaps, that this would come. But he couldn't possibly do it.

"I'm sorry…" He bit his lip. "It's just…"

"Oh, yeah. Of course." Caroline slowed her pace beside him.

"No…well, yes. But it's not your fault." He wanted the earth to open under him and swallow

him whole. "There are, well…there are…circumstances, beyond my control, and it's-"

"Of course. Well…I'd better go then." Before Remus knew it, she was on her way back towards the school again, catching up with a group of chattering girls as she went. He stood still, right outside Honeydukes, not knowing what to do.

"Moony!" Peter exclaimed as he approached the table where his friends were sitting.

"Where have you got the girl?" James asked when he sat down in one of the empty chairs.

Remus shrugged.

"Okay, that's worrying. How did you lose a girl?"

"I didn't lose her. We…she went with her friends, and I came here."

"That bad?"

He shrugged again.

"Come on, tell uncle Prongs." James leaned forward, patting Remus' hand.

"And you're supposed to help? You've been on one date, and that was just to make Evans

jealous."

"Exactly. I know everything about catastrophic dates. And it was not all to make Evans jealous, I have a life apart from fancying her, you know?"

"You keep saying that," Remus murmured, taking a sip of James' butterbeer. "Yet we never see one."

"You're avoiding the subject, Moony."

"I'm not!"

"How was it then?"

"I don't know. Fine, I guess. It's not happening again."

"Why not?"

"How could it. I'm-" He lowered his voice and leaned forward. "I'm a monster."

"You're still a human, with rights."

Shrugging and taking another sip of James' butterbeer, he said. "The fewer people I have close to me, the less chance someone finds out, and the less chance I get hurt. Even better, less chance someone else gets hurt."

"You make it sound like you're an ogre," Peter noted.

"Big frightening thing in stories? Sounds like an accurate description to me."

"Except it's not!" James protested. "You can't let that…that sickness, define you. And stop drinking my butterbeer!"

Remus put down the cup and wiped the foam from his top lip. "You steal my chocolate on a daily basis, but I taste your butterbeer and the world is about to end."

"No one but Evans can take his food," Peter grinned.

"Stop teasing." James leaned back and pouted.

"You know we love you Jamsie." Remus laughed, patting his friend's shoulder.

"Everyone loves me."

"You sound like Sirius." Peter laughed.

"Come on, Wormtail, at this point he and Padfoot are basically one."

* * *

"I've got detention!" Marlene exclaimed, jumping down from the fence. "I need to go."

"Calm down." Sirius followed her as she began to hurry out on the main street. "I'll come with you, and explain to McGonagall."

Marlene snorted a laugh.

"What?"

"You think she'd believe you?"

"Oi! Minnie loves me."

"Sure she does." Marlene grinned. Sirius replied by pushing her arm, almost sending her bashing through Honeydukes window, but grabbed her again and put his arm around her waist before she caused any damage.

"What?" Sirius demanded, noticing she looked at him suspiciously. "I thought you might need the support, since you obviously can't walk properly."

"I was fine, before you pushed me." Marlene poked her tongue at him.

They still had five minutes to spare as they reached the school gates. Since there was another hour and a half before students needed to be back at the school, the path was empty. Sirius still had his arm around her, although Marlene started suspecting it was more because he was freezing then anything else. She had her coat on and was still cold, Sirius was only wearing t-shirt and a thin jacket. They walked quietly up the stairs and towards McGonagall's office. Marlene had no idea why Sirius was still going with her as they were working their way further and further away from the Gryffindor common room. Opening McGonagall's office door, he was still following closely behind her.

"Oh, Ms. McKinnon. Perfect," McGonagall said starkly. "And Mr. Black as well." Marlene turned to see Sirius beginning to make his way out of the office.

"Where do you think you're going, Mr. Black?" McGonagall waved her wand and the office door slammed shut.

"To the common room."

"No, you're not. You have detention as well."

"Since when?"

Marlene thought that it didn't really matter, since both Sirius and James undoubtedly owed plenty of detentions for the times they'd gotten away with things they really ought to have gotten caught for.

"Since last Sunday, when you hexed Mr. Bertram Aubrey." McGonagall pushed a pile of papers into a drawer. "You don't happen to know where Mr. Potter is do you?"

"I guess he's still in Hogsmeade." Sirius shrugged, coming over to McGonagall's desk.

"Well, since the two of you are here we will start. When Mr. Potter cares to join us, I will take

care of him," McGonagall stated and rose from the chair behind her desk. "You'll be cleaning the owlery, no magic. Follow me."

Marlene glanced at Sirius, who looked as disgusted at the thought of this as Marlene felt, but they followed McGonagall out of the room without a question.

It seemed like hours, although in truth they had probably only worked for twenty minutes when

The door slammed open and Filch appeared with James behind him.

"This bastard was sneaking around the school." Filch pushed James in front of him into the owlery. "He says he's looking for you."

"That is right, Filch, he should be looking for me. And I'm sure that whatever Mr. Potter was doing was not sneaking around." McGonagall came over to them. "Now, Potter, I want to talk to you." James followed as she ushered Filch out of the room and closed the door behind them.

"Someone's in trouble." Sirius grinned from the highest step of a ladder where he was cleaning the bird shit out of the highest nests.

"You'd be in trouble too if it wasn't for me." Marlene looked up from the floor where she was sweeping up dirty hay.

"You're not as great as you make yourself out to be you know."

"I certainly am."

"I scored better than you on our last test."

"Oh, and because of that you're so smart. I got better marks than you on our last Herbology turn in."

"Herbology is simple. It's just a bunch of plants."

"I'm still better than you at that, and at Charms may I remind you."

"Well I managed to beco…" Sirius stopped abruptly, apparently realising he had said too much.

"What illegal thing have you been up to now?" Marlene glanced suspiciously at him.

"Noting…" Sirius tried. Marlene was about to question him when James and McGonagall re-entered the room. Sirius grinned at her, knowing she wouldn't dare say anything more with

McGonagall present.

"You got lucky now, didn't you?" she muttered, returning to all fours on the floor.

She was on her way back to the common room, not wanting anything but to sleep, but James pulled her arm.

"Care to take a walk?" He linked arms with her.

"I'm really tired," she tried, but, meeting his eyes, she sighed. "Sure."

James led her another way than the one leading straight to the common room.

"So…how was your day?" He began.

"Good, yours?"

"It was...okay." She could tell James was dying to tell her something, but didn't. "However,

let's talk about you. I was with Peter and we ate candy. You were the one on a date with a Marauder."

"So were you, because the last time I checked Peter was also a part of the Marauders."

"Okay, fine. We both had dates with a Marauder. I'll tell you about mine, if you tell me about yours."

"Do you have to tiptoe around what you want to say? I get enough of that with my girlfriends. Just say straight out that you don't like the idea of me and Sirius."

"I…I-"

"You don't need to worry." She cut off his attempt at speaking. "We're not about to run away together, we're not madly in love and we did not shag behind Madam Puddifoot's."

James' face twisted into a grimace.

"Now, I want to hear about what happened with you and Lily because you've been glowing ever since I mentioned Hogsmeade."

"How in Merlin's name do you do that?" James said.

"I'm a girl, I've learnt to survive." Marlene shook her head and sighed. "Besides, I've known

you all my life. Now tell me."

"Okay. I might be out on my depth but anyway, Peter and I joined them at their table and I think she might have been flirting with me."

"Really?" Marlene furrowed her brows and pressed her lips together to stop herself from laughing.

"Stop that!"

"What?"

"You're laughing!"

"I'm not." She covered her mouth with her hand.

James frowned at her.

"Really?"

"Oh, shut up. Tell me about Lily."

"She didn't yell, or call me an idiot during our whole conversation, for starters."

Marlene took a deep breath.

"Well, isn't 'you're an idiot' implicated in all of your conversations?"

"That's not the only thing. Last week I kind of bumped into her outside the bathroom, or, she was

coming out from the bathroom and I ran into her and almost knocked her over. We talked, she

said something about her sister."

"She didn't tell me about that." Marlene looked at him.

"She hasn't? I thought she would be running to you complaining about what an arrogant bigheaded git I am."

"When was this?"

"I told you, last Sunday."

"Oh. Well then she might have just forgot about it." Marlene shrugged. "We had another love

story to concentrate on then."

"You and Sirius?" He frowned.

"No, James. I've told you, it's not a love story."

"Then who?"

"I can't tell you." She pouted at him, like they did when they were kids.

"Come on, Marls. I thought we were friends." He nudged her side.

"Stop snooping."

James looked at her, head tilted and eyes widened.

"Fine," she sighed. "But you can't tell anyone."

"Pinky promise?"

"We're grown up, James." She glared at him, trying and failing to hold back a smile.

"Okay, just tell me."

"Fine, it's Frank and Alice."

"Oh, so that's what that was about."

"What? What do you know? Tell me, James." She begged, shaking his arm.

"What about snooping?"

"I'm her best friend, I'm allowed to snoop."

James rolled his eyes. "Fine then. I wasn't actually there, but me and Peter sat like two tables away from the girls and I was looking over there because…well-"

"-because Lily was sitting there, I know, continue."

"Well, Frank and Arnold sat down with them and Frank went to order butterbeer for them and when he returned Arnold stood up so that he could sit next to Alice, are they like together or something?"

"Well…" Marlene bit her lower lip. "…not really. I don't know what's happening really, it's all really complicated."

James nodded. "Love always is."

"Cheer up Jamie. She'll come around." Marlene rubbed his shoulder.

"Well, are you coming in or not?" The Fat Lady grumped, they had reached her portrait while talking.

"Babbleton." James said to her, a little rudely and she opened up.

"She's in a bad mood," James noted when it had closed behind them and they had entered the almost empty common room. There would probably be another fifteen minutes before it started filling with people. "I'll go leave my bag."

Sirius was by the fireplace, a magazine open on his lap. Marlene went over and sat down next to him. She leaned over and looked at the magazine. Somehow, its content managed to shock her.

"Really, Sirius?" She looked between him and the Muggle magazine displaying half-naked women.

"What? I'm reading."

"That can't be called reading," Marlene said, frowning at the picture.

"It's not all for fun, you know. It makes mother crazy when I put them on my bedroom walls."

"I would be too. These magazines are the reason for unhealthy body expectations for women."

"Just don't read them then."

"You're an idiot, Black. I don't." She hit his arm.

"Ogh, that hurt!" Sirius rubbed the area of his upper arm where she'd hit him. "I don't see how it's a problem then."

"You're an idiot." She sighed.

* * *

Were things supposed to get less awkward once you snogged? Mary and Cody were walking back to school when she stopped outside the window of Gladrags Wizardwear, and looked at the dress robes behind the glass. She wasn't going to buy them, she didn't need to, but it was nice looking and now, when the village had emptied of people she certainly didn't mind walking around window shopping in the closed stores.

"Do you like it?" Cody asked.

Mary shrugged. "I don't need it. I've got plenty of dresses."

It was nice talking to Cody. Having one Muggle parent he knew a whole lot about Muggles. For once, it was nice to not have to explain every time she let a Muggle word slip from her lips.

Cody's arm around her waist waist wasn't that bad either, especially in the bitter cold of the afternoon. At this point Mary didn't think it could get any colder, although winter wasn't even close yet and she knew it would get much colder. She wrapped her scarf tighter around her neck and buried her face in it as they went out of Hogsmeade on their way back to school.

"Are you cold?" he asked. Mary nodded between clattering teeth. "This might help then." He spun her around to face him and kissed her. She'd lost count of how many times he had actually done that today but still it swept her off her feet. She was out of breath when they broke apart, and she looked at him and laughed.

"You're pretty damn amazing, Cody Howard."

"So are you, Mary MacDonald."

Mary had no idea what had happened. It had simply started out as a way to annoy Marlene and maybe have some fun on the way, but now she was wondering if she actually was starting to like him.

"Well. I'll leave you here," Cody said when they reached the portrait of the Fat Lady, and once again he kissed her. They were just about to break apart when the portrait hole opened and

Marlene stepped out. She put her hands on Cody's back and pressed him closer to her. She looked at Marlene from the corner of her eye. Her face turned into a tortured grimace, and without saying anything she rushed in through the portrait hole again. Mary knew she was being a bitch but honestly she didn't care. Cody must've noticed she wasn't concentrated on him because he leaned back.

"Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yes…" Mary said at length. "I really need to go now."

"I'll see you later then?"

"Yes, absolutely."

After searching the common room for any of the girls and realising they weren't there, Mary climbed the stairs to the dorm. She pushed the door open slightly and peeked in, hoping the others wouldn't see her. Marlene was propped up on her bed with her head leaned against the headboard and a pillow pressed against her chest. Lily and Alice were sitting next to her.

"She is a fucking bitch," Marlene said and although her voice was hard, tears flooded her eyes. It wasn't that Mary enjoyed making people upset, but she had never really felt bad about it either.

But now, instead of entering the room like nothing was wrong, Mary stood glued to the doorstep. Why? Marlene wasn't her friend, she wasn't even someone Mary liked very much. She was just someone Mary had to stand to be friends with her friends. Drama seemed to follow her around (or maybe she followed it) but she hadn't actually started it this time, it wasn't her fault.

She had continued it, but who wouldn't?

She closed the door and breathed out, not actually remembering when she'd breathed in. She'd barely made it down the stairs when she heard a door close above her. Hoping it was another dorm door, Mary continued walking.

"Wait, Mary!" Lily called from behind. Mary stopped, but didn't turn.

"I won't apologise," she said, guessing what Lily wanted. "She was a bitch to me as well and she

knows it."

"I wouldn't say that, Mary. Why would I?"

"Never mind. I don't wanna talk," Mary murmured and turned to continue down the stairs. She'd almost reached the Fat Lady's portrait when Lily caught up with her. She grabbed Mary's wrist to stop her from going out.

"We need to talk about this. I'm coming with you."

Mary took a deep breath and then she nodded. "Okay then."

"Good," Lily said and led her out through the portrait hole.

"So, what did you want to talk about?"

"You and Marlene."

"Please don't."

"Yes. We need to work this out once and for all."

Mary sighed. "There's nothing to 'work out'." She crossed her arms. "We don't like each other. Never have never will. End of story."

"That's not end of story, and you know it too. The situation is tense enough without you and Cody snogging in the hallways."

"She told you about that?" Mary said.

Lily nodded. "And it was a real shitty thing to do, Mary. I don't care what's going on between you two, but you know how she feels about Cody and you don't have to shove it in her face."

"Why do you always side with her?" Mary grumbled. "I'm not the only who's wrong here."

"We're not siding with anyone. All we're doing is trying to get this to work and right now you're making that very hard."

"Well, I'm always the one who's 'mean' and 'unreasonable'."

"That's because, right now, you're being mean, and Marls has to watch you snog the bloke she's liked for months."

Mary shrugged.

"Don't act like you don't care, Mary. I saw you in the door, you feel guilty."

"I don't!" Mary exclaimed.

"You do. You care about her."

"Of course I care about her," Mary snapped. "I don't want her to be upset but Cody likes me and

not her and I can't very well change what he's feeling, can I? If I could I would but I actually like him and he likes me and I don't want her to be sad but I don't want to be sad either. And also, she's the one who went on a date with Sirius Black and she's the one every girl in Hogwarts wants to kill right now." Mary had no idea where this stream of words, most of them untrue, came from and the moment they left her lips she would've done anything to take them back.

"What?" Lily asked, her eyebrows raised so high Mary wondered if they'd simply jump up and stick onto her hairline.

"I have no idea where that came from. It's not true."

"You can't say all that if there's no truth to it."

"Well, the part about everyone wanting to kill her right now is true. None of the others."

"Stop being silly Mary. You care about her."

"I don't." Mary crossed her arms and leaned back against the wall. Although to be honest, she

didn't know what she did and didn't anymore.

"Honestly, stop being so bloody stubborn. You're worse than Alice is about Frank." Lily sighed.

This caught Mary's interest.

"What did you say now?" she asked.

"Nothing. There's just a whole lot of things going on there."

"What? Why don't I know about this? Tell me!"

"It's not that special really. Just that they're actually talking to each other."

"So maybe they'll finally get together then?"

"Looks like it." Lily smiled.


	7. Catch Me

**A/N Guess what guys? It's my birthday today (for another 4 minutes) and because of that, it's Alice's birthday as well, enjoy!**

* * *

What's taking you so bloody long?" Lily hissed to Mary, who was crawling under her bed.

"I can't find my gift," Mary replied, then, a moment later, "Got it. It was in my bag."

"Where you left it?" Marlene spat. Lily glared at her.:

"Let's go." Mary, ignoring the rude comment, stood up.

Thirty minutes later they returned. The tray Mary was carrying was filled with more food than they'd intended and Lily had no idea how they'd eat it all, but the house elves had kept offering them different types of cakes and it had seemed rude to say no. They snuck into the room again and Lily pressed the light switch next to the door while Mary carried the tray over to the side of Alice's bed. Lily had never even known students could come into the kitchen, nor that it was so easy to get food from the house elves, but Marlene had taken the lead.

"Happy birthday, sunshine," Marlene whispered, sitting down at the side of Alice's bed. Sunshine could not have been a more unfitting word. Alice looked anything but happy as she sat up in bed and rubbed her eyes.

"Good morning," she yawned.

"We brought you breakfast." Mary put the tray down on Alice's nightstand.

"You didn't have to…"

"There's coffee," Marlene said.

"Oh! I love you! Give me that." Alice reached for the cup.

"Better?" Marlene asked once Alice had finished the coffee.

"Much better."

"There are toffee muffins too."

"Oh!" Alice grabbed one from the tray and took a bite. "I've missed these."

"I've obviously missed something. What's with the toffee muffins?" Lily asked.

"Oh, they're amazing Lily. You have to try one." Alice gave her a muffin. Lily took it from her and bit off the corner.

"It's okay, I guess." She shrugged. "I've tasted better."

"Like what? Tell me, Lils, what have you tried that is better than this?"

"My mum's buns," Lily said. "They're amazing."

"Hey guys, can we stop arguing about muffins?" Mary asked. "Let Alice open her presents!" She

reached into her pocket and took out the small, wrapped package. All of them, even Alice, knew what was inside. It was a tradition tracing back to their first year. Mary, panicking about what to give Alice for her birthday, had simply found a stone on the Hogwarts grounds. The idea had stuck, and since then Mary had gotten Alice a stone for her birthday. Alice countered by giving Mary a single chess piece, despite Mary not even knowing how to play chess.

* * *

Alice had opened the gifts from Lily and Marlene as well when there was a knock on the window. Her mum's owl was hovering outside, a letter and wrapped box tied to its leg. Mary opened the window to let it in; it flew directly to Alice and sat down at the foot of her bed.

The letter was almost a full page filled with her mum's tidy handwriting, similar to Alice's.

 _My dear Alice,_

 _Happy birthday. Sixteen years, I can't believe it's been so long. It feels like just yesterday I held you in my arms for the first time, and since you were crawling around the house in your small clothes. I still have those in the attic._ She skimmed through the rest of the letter, most of it filled with her mother's wonders about where time had gone; she'd read it later.

Folding it and putting it behind the tray on her nightstand, she turned to the gift. Wrapped in brightly coloured paper, the large box looked out of place on the pale beige bedding. She unwrapped and opened the cardboard box with excitement. It contained a jar of her mother's cookies, a few of the magazines her mother had finished and, to Alice's amazement, three thick, leather-bound books. She lifted them out of the box one at a time. They were all from her father's bookshelf. She recognized them well from all the times she had stood there watching them with awe, and her father had told her she didn't need them since she would never have time to work before she got married either way.

As she lifted the last book out of the box, a small piece of parchment fell out from it. Alice picked it up and read it.

 _Dear Alice._

 _There are obviously no decent boys at Hogwarts nowadays, not that I have heard of. It was better in my time, my friends and I were true gentlemen. So while you're waiting for a gentleman to show up, I thought you could get these. I know how much you've always wanted to have a look at them. I expect great results on your O. ._

 _Love, Dad._

Alice had figured her father would've co-signed her mum's card, he'd never been much of a gift buyer, so the thought of him going through the trouble of writing his own card seemed weird to her. Still, she couldn't help stifle a smile because it didn't seem like he'd be marrying her off just yet.

"What is it?" Lily asked.

"Nothing." Alice put the note inside one of the books. She didn't feel like sharing it just yet.

"Should we go down and eat some real food now?" Marlene suggested. Alice guessed she had a point. Cakes and sweets wasn't really good breakfast.

Alice got out of bed and pulled on a dress and cardigan before following the others, who were already dressed, down to breakfast.

Not long after they had sat down at the table a house elf approached Alice. She had never seen a house elf out of the kitchen during the day, or at all for that matter, so naturally she was surprised when it spoke to her.

"Are you Ms. Alice Fortescue?" it asked with a quite loud voice, making those closest to them turn.

"Yes…" Alice answered, dreading what was to come without knowing what it was.

"I was asked to give you this." The elf put a small package and a card on the table in front of Alice, and then it skipped down the hall and out the doors.

"What does it say?" Marlene asked.

"I haven't opened it yet."

"Well, come on! Do it."

Alice took the card from the table. As she read the few words written inside it confetti fell down the card and collected in a pile in front of her on the table.

 _Happy birthday, hope you're having a good day!_

She passed the card along to her friends, who left every kind of tact behind and immediately started discussing who'd sent it.

Alice lifted the gift off the table and unwrapped the box to find a pack of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum and another smaller box. She lifted off the top and let out a gasp. On a bed of red velvet lay a small bracelet charm, shaped like a small flower.

"Is this from you guys?" Alice eyed her friends, who'd taken a break from their discussion to see what the present had contained.

"No…" Lily bent over the table and looked closer at the charm. "It's really nice."

"I told you it was from Frank," Mary said, leaving no room for discussion.

"We barely know each other." Alice found the room for discussion anyways.

"So? What's your explanation?" Marlene asked, she and Mary obviously having put their petty fight away for the sake of her very much non existent love life.

"I don't know…maybe it's another gift from my mother," Alice suggested.

"That she sent with a house elf?" Mary frowned. "It's from Frank."

Alice looked down the table, searching for Frank's profile in the rows of students. He was halfway down the table, talking to Arnold and eating a slice of bread. Perhaps it was all Alice's imagination, maybe some part of her wanted it to be like that, but she thought he looked over at her for a moment.

Then the moment passed and she returned her gaze to the charm, still in the box.

"Come on Al, put it on," Lily encouraged. Alice hesitated for a moment before taking it from the box and, holding it against the charm bracelet on her wrist, using her wand to attach it. The bracelet had been a gift from her parents before she went off to Hogwarts. It had started off with a single charm, shaped like an A. For the Christmases and birthdays that'd passed, relatives had given her charms for the bracelet, which now had seven charms hanging off it.

She kept scooping cereal into her mouth although her thoughts were elsewhere; on Frank further down the table, on the flower charm, on the words written on the card "hope you're having a nice day". They weren't much really, they could be from anyone. It couldn't be Frank, could it?

Alice had never been one for confrontation, or impulsive decisions in general, but when she saw Frank and Arnold starting to leave the hall she acted on nothing but impulse. She stood, leaving her half-finished breakfast, and hurried after them out through the doors. She was out in the Great Hall just in time to see the front doors close behind them. She caught up with them, very out of breath, just outside the castle doors. She beat herself up for not being in better shape.

"Hey, Frank, can I talk to you?" She tried to sound like she hadn't just left her unfinished breakfast to rush after him. "Between four eyes," she added, not feeling like having Arnold's eyes on her while she was trying to say what she wanted to. Arnold didn't seem to mind and stepped away looking like Christmas had come early.

"Okay," Frank followed Alice to the benches right next to the entrance doors.

"So…what do you want?" he asked.

"Was it you?" Alice asked, not seeming able to control her actions (although maybe that was for the best, her conscious clearly wasn't able to interact with Frank on a human level, maybe her subconscious was).

"Was it me what?"

She nodded towards the bracelet on her arm, where the new charm was clearly visible.

Frank looked down, fiddling with his hands in his lap.

"Well…yeah. I shouldn't have should I? It's just…you were talking about your charm bracelet the other week…in Hogsmeade. I just thought…it was stupid."

Alice couldn't even remember she'd told Frank about the charm bracelet.

"…no, no. I love it. I was just curious, that's all." Alice interrupted his attempts of explaining himself.

"You do?"

"Yes," Alice assured him.

He breathed a sigh of relief and his face relaxed.

Maybe, she thought, maybe it could work? Then her thoughts returned to her father's note. The one she'd tucked into the book back in the dorm. He, who had never thought she should become an Auror, had in a way allowed her to follow her dream by giving her the books, not that she wouldn't have done it either way. What if she got a boyfriend now? Would he still support her, or would he return to his beliefs that she should marry and have kids?

"So…what are you doing today?" Frank asked.

"Oh, I don't know." Alice shrugged. "I guess I'll be with the girls. I left them at breakfast."

"Why?"

"I don't know really." Alice laughed a little. "I was acting on impulse when I followed you out here," she admitted.

"I'm glad you did." Frank smiled. "I was going to put my name on the card, but I changed my mind."

"Why don't you give it to me in person next time?" she suggested.

"I'll try."

"Do it, Frank. I like you." She was surprised by her own words. It was the first time she had even come close to admitting to Frank, and herself, how she felt. She smiled and rose from the bench.

"Alice." She stopped on the steps up to the front door at the sound of Frank's voice. "I like you too."

She smiled to herself before continuing into the great hall, not knowing if he'd meant that the same way she did or if it was simply an "I like you" as you tell a friend.

"Where did you rush off to?" Mary asked as Alice sat down at the table again.

"Oh, I…I went and talked to Frank."

Marlene made an unsuccessful attempt at wolf whistling and Mary clapped her hands together.

"And…" Lily leaned towards her.

"It was him." Alice smiled.

"Told you so!" Mary shone up.

"But what did he say?"

"I asked if the present had been from him, he said it was, end of discussion."

"Come on, Al, give us the meat!"

"There's no 'meat'."

"So you're telling me you didn't snog behind the greenhouses?" Mary asked.

"Not everyone does that, you know," Marlene snapped at her.

"No. We didn't snog behind the greenhouses, or anywhere else for that matter."

"Not even a small kiss?" Mary bulged her lip. "That you might've…forgotten about."

"I think I'd remember."

"Fine."

* * *

"We really should go," Remus said when, twenty minutes before breakfast closed, they were all still in the dorm.

"Yeah, good luck waking sleepy over there." Sirius nodded towards the lump under the duvet that was James. At this point, it seemed like nothing could wake him. He'd slept through Sirius' one man play of the Lord of the Rings, Remus' karaoke session and Peter dancing through the dorm, including straight over James' duvet.

"There's only one solution to this." Sirius walked over to James' bedside and raised his wand. A ray of water shot out from it and hit James' face. He bolted upright.

"I'll kill you!" he roared and waved his arms around in a desperate try to hit some of them.

"Calm down Prongs." Sirius stopped the water pouring from the wand. "Nothing else would wake you. We tried."

"Wormtail danced a tango with your broom right over your bed," Remus informed him.

"Padfoot used your cloak in his retelling of the Lord of the Rings, which I actually think woke the boys next door," Peter said.

"No way. They knocked on the door because of Moony's karaoke of 'Life on Mars' with that artist he likes, David Brownie."

"It's David Bowie you idiot," Remus snapped. "And my singing was beautiful."

"You keep telling us that. And we keep disagreeing," Sirius said, and Peter nodded in agreement. "But breakfast closes in fifteen minutes so if you want any food we need to go. No, Prongs, you don't have time to change."

They walked out of the dorm, James still in his pyjamas. There were surprisingly many students still eating breakfast considering how late it was. Most of the plates were empty, however, and Peter had to scrape the last of the butter from the bowl.

"Tomorrow can we please eat earlier? How many times do we have to lick the others' plates before you agree to that?" Remus sighed and took the last sausage from the plate in front of him.

"I wake up at six on Saturdays for practise and we need to be in school all the other days, Sunday is the only day of the week I can actually sleep," James argued.

"We'll let you sleep then next time, and then you'll wake up at three in the afternoon wondering why everybody abandoned you," Sirius suggested.

"Oh believe me. I would be happy for you to abandon me if it means I can sleep," James snapped back and took a sip of the last tea he had poured out of the can. "Why is there no coffee left? I need caffeine." James turned the coffee can upside down but not a single drop of black coffee dripped out.

"I can't believe it's only two weeks 'til the game," Sirius said, changing the subject. "We've got practise tonight, right?"

James nodded. "Marrow is driving me crazy," he said. "He's insisting on practice every single day, not that I'm complaining, but with all the homework they're throwing on us I have no time left to do anything."

Peter wished it was that simple for him. He wished he could do his homework over lunch or between lessons, but that was simply impossible. He'd tried for a few years, of course, wishing so badly to fit in.

Then McGonagall had assigned tutoring, because he was about to fail Transfiguration. After finishing his toast, he stood up and announced to the others he was meeting Lindsey in the library.

However, when he reached the library doors he was greeted by a boy who introduced himself as Patrick. The robes, which he was wearing despite it being the weekend, showed he was a Ravenclaw. Peter thought he'd seen him before, but he couldn't remember. There was something familiar in his face which Peter couldn't quite put his finger on.

"Who're you?" Peter asked, because he still wasn't sure who this bloke was.

"I'll be tutoring you," he said. "You're Peter Pettigrew, right?"

"Yeah, where's Lindsay?"

"She was busy, she asked me to take you instead," Patrick replied.

"Okay then," Peter said, not sure why no one had told him before.

Thirty minutes later Peter had made no progress on his Transfiguration homework other than managing to make the ink bottle fall over and spill a big puddle of ink over the parchment.

Patrick was driving him insane, and people didn't tend to drive him insane. He kept telling Peter it wasn't that hard, without really explaining the concept. The fact that Peter had found out he was only a fourth year and still acted like he knew everything so much better didn't make him feel any better.

Peter was dangerously close to banging his head on the table and start crying from frustration because he didn't get it, and everyone else did. James and Sirius would have written this without a problem over a plate of pasta and Remus would, after reading about the subject in a book he just happened to own, sit down and force himself to write it. It wasn't that Peter lacked self-discipline, he could force himself to do almost anything, his brain would simply not allow him to understand the information, especially in Transfiguration.

The only subject he really shone in was History of Magic, not that anyone noticed of course. For all Professor Binns knew he could just as well not have been in class at all, and none of the others gave a shit about the subject, therefore Peter's knowledge was all for nothing.

"You know," Patrick interrupted his thoughts. "I need to leave in ten minutes so if you won't benefit from me being here, which you don't seem to." He eyed Peter's empty parchment. "I'll be off now."

"Sure, you can go," Peter said, not looking up from his paper.

"Good." Patrick seemed just as relieved at being allowed to leave as Peter was about seeing him walk out the library doors.

* * *

"So we'll meet here again at six thirty." Marlene said, going through what they had planned once again. "Lily, you keep Alice away from here until it's time. Mary, you take this list…" She handed Mary the list of names they'd jotted down. "And go 'round trying to collect as many people on it as possible. While you do that, I will get some food from the kitchen and freshen up this place." She looked around at the dusty desks moved up towards the walls and the blackboard with a crack across it.

"You don't think we should've done this earlier? Like, yesterday? When I said we should do it." Mary stood leaned against the wall.

"No, now is good, off you go." Marlene tried to not be to curt (mostly to avoid the telling off look Lily would give her if she was).

As Lily and Mary left the empty classroom Marlene turned to face the room; she had no idea how she'd manage to get it all cleaned up. After trying a few spells, which did nothing but spread the dust and sent her into a coughing fit, she gave up and went to get cleaning equipment from the broom closet further down the corridor.

As she was walking down the corridor towards the classroom she heard Peeves' high voice, and she knew the classroom would be in an even worse state when she returned.

She was right. Peeves zoomed around the room, destroying everything in his path and singing loudly.

"Peeves! Out!" Marlene ordered, but her words drowned in Peeves' loud singing. "Peeves!" She tried again, this time louder.

For a second Peeves looked like he might actually stop and leave her alone. Then he dove into a cabinet at the back of the room and found a package of rubbers, which he started throwing at her. Hands over her head, Marlene rushed out of the room. The rubbers Peeves managed to hit her with before she shut the door hurt, and she knew they'd leave red marks. A few more rubbers bounced against the other side of the door before Peeves started singing again and, from the sound of it, causing the blackboard to fall to the floor.

Carefully, she creaked the door open again; Peeves was still busy making a mess and didn't notice her. Marlene raised her wand, hoping her plan would work.

"Levicorpus," she whispered. Peeves yelped as an invisible rope hung him upside down.

"Let me down you filthy girl!" He struggled to get free.

"Get out of here." She walked towards him.

She lifted the hex and Peeves zoomed above her head and out the door, mumbling curse words as he went.

The room truly was a mess. Apart from the dust and spiderwebs, half the desks were turned over, the blackboard had fallen to the floor and the contents of every cabinet were spread across the floor. Her mum would've fixed it in a moment, a simple swing of her wand and the room would look perfect, but Marlene had never bothered to learn even the most basic housework spells. Grabbing the broom from where she'd leaned it across the wall, she set about working.

* * *

As they were heading down the entrance stairs, Peter made an excuse about an unreturned book and slipped away from the others. He had a good idea of where the Ravenclaw tower was located based on all the times they'd examined the Marauder's Map. Still, he got lost more times than he thought possible searching for the right place. Once he reached the platform with the door leading into the common room, it hit him that he had no plan as to what to do now. Normally he just followed along as the others told him what to do. He'd have to be his own person now. Scanning the very small platform he thought it would be best to wait there; it was dinner soon and she was bound to show up then.

He waited as people came and went. No one seemed to care about or even notice him. After almost fifteen minutes a passing girl asked if she could help him with something.

"Can you check if Lindsey Hughes is in there?" he asked, thankful someone had finally stretched out a helping hand.

Five minutes and thirteen passing Ravenclaws later, Lindsey showed up.

"Hi, Peter." She smiled.

"Hi."

"You asked for me."

"Yeah, I was just wondering why you didn't make it to tutoring today."

Lindsay looked surprised. "Didn't Patrick show up?"

"Yeah, he did. I was just wondering why you couldn't make it."

"I could."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Pat offered to take it instead. He said you knew each other."

"Well, we don't, and now I have to finish my homework by myself tonight instead." He didn't mean to sound so accusing.

"I'm sorry," Lindsey said. "I really thought I was helping you out."

"It's not your fault," Peter sighed.

"So…"

"Well, I need to go."

"Are you okay, Wormtail?" Remus asked when Peter sat down next to them in the Great Hall.

He wasn't fine. Someone was lying to him, and it made him feel uncomfortable.

"Yeah, just a little tired," he said.

"Okay."

Peter didn't know if they were naive enough to swallow the lie or if they didn't care enough to dig deeper.

"So, are we stopping by the so called 'party' later?" Sirius asked.

"I'll need to go by the Prefects' office first, but then I'm in," Remus said.

"Absolutely," James agreed. Peter knew he'd better go to the common room and force himself to finish the Transfiguration homework, but if the others were going he couldn't just leave.

No sooner had Peter finished his dinner than he was dragged out from the hall by the others. Instead of heading up the stairs, they went into a small corridor in the entrance hall and through a wooden door. In the minute it took for Remus to write something down in a notebook and tell them they could leave, James had found something interesting.

"Sirius…" he said at length, looking at a photo on the wall. "You don't happen to know about a Celine Black, do you?"

"No," Sirius replied. "What's with her?"

James nodded at the photo and Sirius went over.

"Blood traitor," he said. "That's why my mother never mentioned her. She could talk herself sick about family members, though."

"She's quite old now," Remus noted, also coming over. "It's from 1909." He pointed to the year engraved in the golden sign on the frame.

"If she betrayed my family, chances are she is long dead now," Sirius said dryly and started towards the door. The others followed him.

James and Sirius took the lead as usual while Remus and Peter walked a bit behind them.

"Do you think we can just walk in?" Peter asked Remus. "I don't suppose it'll be like when we host a party.

"The two of us, perhaps," Remus replied. "But all four? There's no chance Lily will let those two through the door."

* * *

There were more people in the room than Lily had expected. The list they'd given to Mary had been relatively short; still, half of Hogwarts seemed to have showed up somehow so it took a while before any of them spotted the disaster waiting to happen. A disaster with brown hair and blue eyes. A disaster named Cody.

Lily and Alice were standing by the table of food, looking out over the room when Lily spotted him across the room, talking to his friend.

"What is Cody doing here?" she asked Alice in a whisper.

"Who?"

"Cody. Mary's boyfriend, sort of."

"Is he here?"

Lily nodded towards the entrance, where Cody stood leaned against the door frame.

Alice sighed. "Marlene will freak out. We need to get him out of here. Where's Mary?" Alice's eyes flickered around the room.

"Calm down, Al," Lily put a hand on her shoulder. "I'll handle it. You just stay here and eat a biscuit."

She hurried away, keeping her eyes open for Mary. She found her towards the back of the room, talking to a blond Hufflepuff.

"Mary, what is Cody doing here?" She tried to keep calm, but it was hard when she knew the party was a ticking bomb.

"He wanted to come so I invited him." Mary shrugged. "Is there a problem?"

"Yes there's a problem, Mary. You know Marlene will make a scene when she finds out."

"Well, that's her problem, not mine."

"If you two start fighting, again, we all have a problem." Lily sighed. "You two were getting along this morning, what happened?"

"Ask her?" Mary shrugged again.

"You have to ask him to leave, now. We might be able to turn this around. I'll go find Marls." She rushed away, praying Mary understood the importance.

"Hey, Marls." She found her friend by the drink table, dangerously close to Cody. "We're out of biscuits, can you go get some more?" They didn't really need biscuits, but they needed time, and biscuits would get them time.

"Okay," Marlene went for the door and she'd gotten too far before Lily realised the huge flaw in the plan. Marlene turned and hurried back over to Lily.

"What is he doing here?" she yelped. "She invited him, didn't she?"

"Well…"

"That's it. I'm killing her, I'm killing both of them," Marlene stormed off.

"No, Marls. Wait!" It was useless. Lily could just as well have called for the bird outside the window for the impact it made. Lily returned to Alice.

"Did you fix it?" she asked.

"Not really," Lily admitted. "You see…" She didn't make it any longer before she was cut off by Marlene.

"You think you can just come here and invite your precious little boyfriend who you know very well how I feel about and not even have the guts to tell me?" she screamed. "I will tell you one thing. If your boyfriend wants to keep that pretty face of his, he'd better leave right this second."

The room had gone very quiet and all eyes seemed to be on Marlene and Mary.

"You wouldn't dare touch him!" Mary stepped forward. "I only did it because you're a bitch who wants everyone to obey your every wish, and you know that! You know that you're a bitch."

"Oh. I'm the bitch? You're the one who's eavesdropping and gossiping about everything. It's a miracle half of the people in this room don't hate you."

"You better stop talking like that about my girl. I will fight you." Cody stepped up behind Mary's back.

"Oh I'm so scared." Marlene rolled her eyes.

"You better be." He raised his wand.

"Oh no. I wouldn't think so!" Someone exclaimed from somewhere and a moment later James and Sirius came spilling out from the crowd.

"If you're fighting Marlene you're getting the two of us as part of the deal."

"Oh isn't this cute?" Mary put her head to one side. "Marlene needs two big boys to protect her."

Lily could've retold what happened next even before it did. Marlene bolted forward and pushed Mary backwards into the crowd. Cody flicked his wand, causing Marlene to fall backwards. Just as James and Sirius both got ready to cast a spell Lily dove forward into the gap between Marlene and Mary, who had now recovered.

"No! Everyone stop it!" she yelled, picking the wands from James and Sirius with one motion. "You'd better go." She turned to Cody.

"But them…" Cody started and pointed to James and Sirius.

"I will deal with them, thank you very much."

Some wolf-whistled in the background as Cody left the room, muttering.

"Potter, Black." She turned to the two. "I'll give these back," she waved their wands in front of them. "But you can't hex anyone, okay."

They nodded and she pushed the wands back into their hands.

"And you two, you come with me." She grabbed Mary and Marlene by the wrists and dragged them into the classroom next door.

"It's Alice's birthday, and you two decide to go start a fight?"

"I didn't…" Mary began.

"Shut up. If you weren't my best friends I would report you straight to McGonagall, but since you are, I will only take away points." None of them protested. "Good. Now you have two options. You can go back in there and be nice and smile or you can go somewhere else. I don't care where. Understood?"

They nodded.

"Now I'll go back in there, if you two don't mind." She slammed the door shut behind them.

"I'm so sorry, Alice. We should've just kept to how we usually do," Lily said for the millionth time when she, Alice and Dorcas had escaped the now very tense party. They were sitting on the thick branch of the crooked tree down by the lake.

"No, I would've loved it. If it wasn't for the fact that we right now have two people building teams on different sides of the room." Even if Marlene and Mary had kept to their promise of not starting another fight, people had started to divide in different groups, which hadn't eased the tension.

They sat quiet for another few minutes and then the front doors of the castle opened and two figures stepped out. They seemed to be heading towards the lake, and as they came closer Lily recognised them; Marlene and, beside her, Sirius.

Lily sighed. In the past week she'd managed to mostly forget the incident in Hogsmeade, but now it returned again. She was about to crack already, dealing with this wasn't what she needed. But no one else seemed to be dealing with ít, and someone had to. She told Alice and Dorcas she'd be back in a minute and climbed down from the tree.

"Hi, Lils!" Marlene exclaimed. "What're you doing here?" Then, turning to Sirius, she added, "James will be disappointed."

"The tension was too high, we needed to escape. What're you doing here?"

"Marls needed some air and I offered to follow her," Sirius explained.

"You're offering a whole lot of things to Marlene," Lily said. " As a friend, of course," she added.

Sirius looked at her, and Lily couldn't determine if he was smiling or frowning.

"What're you talking about, Evans?"

"I'm talking about Hogsmeade. The two of you, behind the Three Broomsticks."

Marlene and Sirius looked equally confused.

"Lily, you'll need to be more specific," Marlene said.

"I don't know, there was a lot of hugging and giggling." Lily gestured with her hands. "And faces a bit too close for 'friends'."

"Wait…Lils." Marlene frowned. "You think we kissed?"

"I know you did. I saw you."

"Then you were hallucinating. Because we didn't."

"You didn't?"

"Nope, our dear McKinnon here ruined all the fun by having detention to get to."

Both Marlene and Lily turned to him.

"All the fun?" Lily asked sharply.

"Cool down, Evans. I'm joking," he said, throwing his hands up in defence.

"You better be. You have no idea how James was talking about the two of you."

"James?" Sirius smiled.

"I meant Potter," Lily snapped. "Shut up, Black."

"You said James." Sirius teased her with a silly smile all over his face.

"If you tell him about that, I'll tell him about the two of you."

"What do you have on us?" Sirius asked.

"St. Mungo's," Lily told him pointedly.

"Okay, got it. Let's go, Marls, she's dangerous."

Lily heard Sirius dismiss Marlene's question about what happened at St. Mungo's before returning to Alice and Dorcas.

"Are you okay?" Dorcas asked.

"Yeah." Lily nodded.

* * *

The classroom was starting to empty. It was nearing curfew and most sensible people would not want to be caught out of the common room, however, Remus happened to be friends with people who were in no way sensible. James and Peter were still hunting around the now very empty room looking for Lily, and James seemed ignorant of the fact that she obviously wasn't there.

"Hi guys, no luck?" he asked.

"I think she left," James said. "Who leaves a party they're hosting?"

Peter shrugged.

"You know…" James began but trailed off as the door swung open and Lily entered.

"Oh, Potter, you're still here?" she sighed.

"You don't expect me to leave a party early, do you?" James laughed nervously.

"Of course not," Lily said. She went over to the food table and with a wand movement tried to vanish the food. Nothing happened.

"Let me help you!" James exclaimed and rushed forward, as usual failing miserably with acting "cool" as he put it. Lily glanced sideways at him as he places his hand around her right wrist and helped her with the wand movement once more.

"Thanks," she said, quite startled, as the food disappeared.

James stayed standing awkwardly next to her as she packed together the tablecloth and pushed the table back in its place.

"Can we help with anything else?" he asked.

"No, we've got it covered," she said. "You should get back to the common room, it's almost curfew."

James, who'd never cared about curfew before, nodded and turned to leave.

"Let's go," he said.

* * *

" _I like you too."_ Alice hadn't quite managed to get the words out of her head all day. She tried, but they just wouldn't disappear. Was she reading too much into it? Probably. She normally wasn't the person to dwell on things like these, but when it was about Frank she wasn't herself. The fact that her friends wouldn't shut up about it didn't really help either.

The dorm door had barely closed behind them that night before Mary started going on and on about what a bitch Marlene was and how she'd always known and they'd never listened to her.

Marlene still hadn't returned, and Alice was starting to worry. Mary's attack was still fresh in her memory and she couldn't help but wonder if something like that had happened again. The rising war suddenly felt much closer once it'd managed to sneak inside the walls of the school.

"Does anyone know where Marls is?" Lily said, voicing Alice's thoughts.

"Who cares?" Mary mumbled.

"We do, Mary. And so do you for that matter."

Mary snorted and grabbed her hairbrush from the dresser. She started brushing through her hair and quite clearly wished to change the subject.

"She was with Black down by the lake, maybe she's in their dorm," Lily speculated.

"Oh, so she gets to sleep in their dorm, but the second I go on a date with a single guy there's something wrong with me." Mary complained to no one in particular.

"We've already had this discussion, Mary," Lily sighed.

"She better stay away from Frank though, but I guess you never know with her. She'll do whatever the fuck she feels like because she's Marlene McKinnon!" Mary yelped, not paying any attention to Lily.

"Seriously, stop it!" Alice yelled. Mary went quiet. "You won't benefit from whining to us. We are friends with both of you and your moaning won't change that."

Alice had learnt that raising her voice gave result. She'd never do it outside their group of friends, but it was useful to know.

"I'll go see if Marlene's with the boys," Alice said, standing. "Will you stay here?"

"If it means I don't have to have meet James 'I'm just going to stand here and try to be funny' Potter," Lily sighed.

Alice nodded and exited the dorm, not believing anyone could be so oblivious as to not see James Potter's love for Lily Evans.

She climbed the flight of stairs to the boys' dorm and knocked on the door before opening it ajar. A wave of noise hit her. They were all, based on what she saw through the crack in the door, in the middle of a pillow fight. She stood in the door for quite some time before anyone noticed her.

"Fortescue!" James exclaimed. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"Have you seen Marls?"

"She's still with Sirius, I guess. Why?"

"We just wanted to know she was okay, she's not in our dorm." Alice opened the door wider to see the room looked like a battlefield.

"I guess she is." James shrugged.

"Well, thanks. I'll go back to the dorm?"

"Why don't you stay here?" Arnold asked. "I mean, they're more likely to come here," he added.

"And we could use a referee," Peter put in. "Some people are quite obviously breaking the rules." He crossed his arms and glared at James.

"I don't know…"

"You're coming in." Arnold grabbed her arm and pulled her through the door.

Before Alice knew what happened she was seated on top of a very high pile of various stuff, mostly books and pillows. James and Arnold had explained the rules, which were way more complex then Alice thought necessary for a pillow fight. She'd lost track entirely when they got to "if you throw a Bertie Bott's Bean with coffee taste on someone else you get 2 points, 4 if it hits the face".

"The score is 12-10 in benefit of team pyjamas dancing," she announced five minutes into the game. She still didn't fully understand the rules.

"You're an unfair referee," James complained as Frank and Arnold cheered.

"Because your rules are stupid." Alice crossed her arms.

"You just judge to Frank's advantage because you fancy each other."

Alice was glad she'd reached down to adjust one of the pillows because she felt the blush rise in her face.

"Stop it," she heard Frank say and she looked up, relieved to see that he was blushing too.

"I'm just sayin'." James folded his arms in front of him. There was a moment of silence before the door flung open and Sirius announced himself part of the game. Marlene came in behind him.

"Alice?" she asked. "What're you doing here?"

"I was looking for you, and then they forced me to be referee in their pillow fight."

"A shitty referee," James added and Alice, not wanting him to repeat his speech from a few minutes ago, interrupted him.

"Are you coming with me back to the dorm, Marls?" Alice asked, climbing down from her place on top of a copy of _'Basics of Transfiguration'_

"Is Mary there?"

"I guess…"

"Then I'm not coming." Marlene crossed her arms.

Part of her just wanted to tell everyone to stop acting like toddlers, but she didn't.

"Where will you go then?" she asked instead.

"I don't know." Marlene shrugged. "I might sleep in the common room."

"No you won't!" James exclaimed. "You can stay here. Right guys?"

The others shrugged.

"Well, I'll get back." Alice sighed. "Good luck with your pillow fight."


	8. Yesterday

**A/N I'm not going to say too much about this chapter, but writing it was really hard. I put my blood, sweat and tears into it and in the end this is what came out of it.**

 **As usual, everything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling, comments make me smile, and huge thank you to Alisa who's patiently beta read every chapter to date 3 And gigantic thank you to you who read and enjoy my story.**

* * *

"I don't understand why I need to come," Severus complained, bitter as ever at the prospect of the Slug club.

"Because otherwise I'll be alone all night," Lily repeated, for what felt like the millionth time.

"No you won't. Slughorn is all over you. 'Lily! There is someone you should meet.' 'I have these contacts in the ministry.' 'This is someone not too significant who I pretend is a big deal.'"

"That's rubbish, Sev," she protested.

"And all of your other friends are there, too."

"Alice is, but-"

"But you've fallen out with her." Severus filled in.

That wasn't at all what Lily had intended to say, but Severus' mood seemed to have lightened and she wasn't about to ruin that.

"Yeah," Lily sighed.

"I can't say I'm surprised," Severus said. "I never liked her."

Normally, she would've asked why, but she let it slip. She was beginning to hope this night might be like it used to, back in the days when it had been her and Severus against the world.

"Do you think we'll get that thing for dessert again? The one we got last time. I really liked it."

Lily found herself talking about the first thing that came to mind. She hadn't had time to eat lunch, so she was ravenous.

Severus shrugged. "It was a bit dry, don't you think?"

"It was ice cream cake." Lily laughed. "How can it be dry?"

"Oh, I was talking about the cake we got the week before that. The lemon one."

"The lemon one…" Lily tried to recall it from her memory. "Oh yeah, that one was dry." She laughed again and Severus joined in. It all felt like it was going the right way.

"Lily, so very nice to see you." Slughorn hurried over and took Lily's hand in his, shaking it. "So glad you could make it, so glad indeed."

"Thank you Professor, it's nice seeing you too."

"And Severus is here as well! Terrific day this turns out to be after all."

Lily glanced at Severus. "Told you," she mouthed. He rolled his eyes.

"Please do go and have a drink." Slughorn nodded towards the drink table. "And we'll sit down

in about ten minutes."

"He's a nutter, as usual," Severus whispered as Slughorn turned to greet Louise Davis as she

entered.

"Don't say that, Sev," Lily sighed, walking over and taking a glass with yellow, sparkly liquid in it. "He's a great wizard." She sipped the drink.

"Hey, Lily." Alice hurried over to her and Lily tried her hardest to ignore the look Severus gave

her. "You have to help me," she said, then, at Lily's confused look, she glanced at Severus before mouthing, "Frank is here." She nodded her head towards him, as if proving her case.

"I know sweetie, he's been to every supper since forever."

"I know. But it's weird now."

"Why?"

"Because of what happened," Alice whispered.

Looking apologetically at Severus, Lily grabbed Alice's arm and dragged her into the corner.

"What happened?" she demanded.

"Nothing. Forget I ever said something." Alice attempted to walk away, but Lily held her back.

"Alice."

"Okay, fine…last week I was late for class, so I was running down the stairs, those narrow ones on the fifth floor you know."

Lily nodded.

"I was in such a hurry I didn't really look where I was going. So, just when I'm at the end of the stairs, I find I'm face to face with Frank," she hesitated. "Of course, we were kind of stuck, because it was so narrow we couldn't get past each other, so for a while we just stood there like idiots, staring at each other. Then, all of a sudden he tells me to come closer and when I do he pick me up."

"You're kidding!" Lily exclaimed, not knowing what to feel.

"No, I'm not." Alice sighed. "However, he turned around and put me down, so that we could

keep going our separate ways."

"And?"

"And I told him, very forcefully, that I don't like being picked up and that just because I'm small

doesn't mean he can do whatever he likes with me."

"No, Alice!" Lily sighed.

"I know." Alice hid her face in her hands. "He looked so ashamed and he didn't say anything. So

I just kind of slipped away, and we haven't talked since."

"So now…"

"...it's really weird," Alice finished. "But you know, I didn't even mind him picking me up. I just

got so surprised and-"

"Calm down, Al."

"What should I do?"

"Honestly?"

"Honestly."

"I think you should sit next to him at dinner-"

"No, Lily! I can't do that. I humiliated myself, and him. I can't just sit down next to him and start

talking like everything's fine."

"-then, you apologise. You say you hadn't slept much and that you overreacted. You might even slip in that part about how you kinda liked it."

"I didn't say that!"

"Do you deny it?"

"Fine," Alice sighed.

She found Severus in the exact spot she'd left him.

"I thought you'd fallen out," he said, looking almost hurt.

"We had," Lily lied. Blimey, she had to stop doing that. "But she needed help and we made up."

"Really?"

"Why're you so jealous, Sev?" Lily teased. "Afraid she'll steal me away from you?"

Severus looked down.

"It's just…you never spend time with me anymore," he said sullenly.

"I do," Lily exclaimed, going into defense mode.

"When was the last time?" he challenged.

"That time when…" Lily stopped, not remembering when she had last spent time with the bloke

she called her best friend. "I'm sorry, Sev," she finished.

"Don't be. You have a life."

"No, I really am," she assured. "I've been a git, but you've stayed with me. I promise, it's just gonna be the two of us tonight."

"No more friends crisis?"

"No more friends crisis," Lily promised. "Now come on, we'll want to get the good seats." She dragged him across the room to the set table with thirty or so chairs around it. The table had already started filling with students. Lily took a seat to the right of Gwenog Jones and Severus sat down beside her.

"I can't believe how good this is!" Severus said, having already eaten half of his meal. It was the most positive Lily had seen him since she couldn't remember when.

"Yeah, it's really amazing," Lily agreed.

"So, what do you think of the career counselling?" he asked, swallowing another bite.

"I don't know. It's good I guess, it'll give us some perspective on what we can do after school.

Although I guess it won't be much help for me."

"Why do you say that?"

"Because I'm Muggleborn. No one wants to hire us these days."

"That's not true."

"It is. Would you hire me?"

"Of course, Lil. You're the most gifted witch there is around, why wouldn't I-"

"I'm not talking about me specifically, I'm talking about Muggleborns in general." Lily felt her

cheeks flush.

"Can we just change the subject?" Severus asked.

"Yes, please." Lily was thankful he had suggested it, and wanted to punch herself. She knew

"blood status" was on the ever-growing list of topics that were off limits in their conversations, why would she bring the discussion to it?

"So I saw this bloke in Hogsmeade, just outside Three Broomsticks. He was wearing one of those weird muggle hats, what are they called? Those large ones, colourful. The Mexicans wear them."

"Sombrero?" Lily suggested.

"Yeah, he was wearing a sonbrebo and it got me thinking about that time when we walked around town in the middle of summer in those hats you dad brought home from Russia."

"Oh yeah, that was fun." Lily smiled, not knowing if it was because of the memory or because Severus was making an effort to keep a normal conversation. "I thought

Petunia would explode." It was the first time in years Lily had been able to laugh about her sister's ridiculous behaviour.

"We had a lot of fun back then," Severus said.

"We did," Lily agreed, still smiling.

* * *

"What I'm saying is…I'm sorry. I overreacted." Alice finished her speech. "And we've been…friends lately. I wouldn't wanna lose that because of my lack of sleep."

Frank looked at her and grinned.

"What are you doing?" Alice asked. "Merlin, do I have something between my teeth?" Alice raised her hand to cover her mouth.

"No, your teeth are fine, more than fine really. It's just funny, because I've been meaning to apologise to you."

"What…why?"

"Because I felt bad. I should have known you wouldn't like it."

"It wasn't that I didn't like it, really. You caught me by surprise, and I had a bad day."

"Okay…" He picked at his food.

"Really."

"Are you sure?" Frank bit his bottom lip.

"Positive." Alice laughed. "Stop worrying."

"Okay." Frank smiled too.

Dessert had just been set on the table when the door slammed open and Professor McGonagall barged in, panting.

"Horace. Albus wants so see everyone in the Great Hall."

"But Minerva, can't it wait? I'm in the middle of something."

"No, Horace," McGonagall sighed. "It can't."

"Okay, students. We will have to finish this some other time." Slughorn's tone was light and cheerful, which only increased the tension in the air. Clearly, Alice had not been the only one to notice the urgency and worry in McGonagall's voice. Slughorn rose with a sigh and the students followed. McGonagall hurried first and Slughorn tried his best to follow in the same pace.

Lily caught up with them, Snape following behind her.

"What's happening?" she whispered.

Alice shrugged. "I know everything you do."

"You don't think there's been an attack, do you?"

Lily's words sent a shiver up Alice's spine.

They passed others, both teachers and students, on their way to wherever they were going.

Everyone was silent. The echoing footsteps, the pressed silence and the worried facial expressions of every teacher who passed, who unsettled her.

The Entrance Hall was packed with students to an extent Alice had never seen before, not even before the start-of-term feast. McGonagall instructed them to wait there, before she and Slughorn disappeared through a door.

Alice grabbed Lily's arm and they set off to find Marlene and Mary. Whispers and shushed conversations followed them through the crowds, rumours already spreading. They found Mary and Marlene, accompanied by Ellie, who was holding Marlene's hand tight. Frank had disappeared into the crowds of people, as had Snape.

"Do you know what's happening?" Marlene asked them. She wasn't looking at Mary, but the fact that the two of them were even standing together was an improvement.

"Not a clue." Lily shrugged. "What do you know?"

"McGonagall came to the common room and told us Dumbledore wanted to speak to everyone and that we should go to the Entrance Hall," Mary said.

"So what do you think?" Lily asked.

"Hopefully he wants to tell us the Ministry of Magic has decided everyone should get free candy," Marlene sighed. "But I've got a feeling that won't be it."

The Great Hall doors opened and Filch started ushering the students into the hall. It looked like it usually did, except for the podium in front of the staff table. Alice sat down in between Mary and

Lily at the Gryffindor table. Across the table sat Marlene, who still had Ellie by her side despite

Filch telling them to sit at their house tables. No one seemed to be speaking, but there was still a buzzing coming from the crowd.

Dumbledore appeared from the door on the side of the staff table and walked up to the podium. The other teachers followed and took their seats at the staff table. The buzzing stopped before he'd even made an attempt at hushing it, and every head in the hall turned to him.

"You must be wondering why I've gathered you at this hour," Dumbledore began. "And I will get right to it." He stopped and hesitated. "The Minister for Magic has just informed me of an attack in London. An attack that the so called Death Eaters are thought to be behind."

It was the quietest the student body had ever been. There were no gasps, no screams and no hushed voices as people started discussing the news.

"The Aurors have come across at least half a dozen deceased witches and wizards upon searching the building," Dumbledore continued, having paused to wait out the lack of reactions.

"I expect everyone to be respectful in the days approaching, since some students will likely be having a hard time. Because of this the teachers and I have made a collective decision that there will be no classes tomorrow," he finished. "There is not much more to say for now. Prefects, I expect you to lead the younger students back to the common room and make sure they are as comfortable as possible. Your head of houses will come by the common room later tonight."

No one moved to begin with. Then Sebastian Conoway, the Head Boy, stood and started arranging Ravenclaw first and second years in lines. Other prefects followed his example and soon the hall was in motion again. It was relieving in a way, that things worked as normal, yet it was strange how they could after what had just happened. It wasn't the first time there had been a Death Eater attack, not by a long shot, but never before had Dumbledore gathered them in the Great Hall outside of mealtimes. It pointed to something larger, something they hadn't been told.

Lily had disappeared to gather the Gryffindor students, and across the table Marlene was talking to Ellie in a hushed voice; Alice could only make out parts of the conversation.

"…could go to…worried."

"No…I won't…my friends."

"Ellie…please."

"…leaving." Ellie rose from the bench and hurried over to the Hufflepuff table where she flung

her arm around the middle of a brown haired girl and whispered something in her ear.

"I guess it's good," Marlene sighed. Her face was whitening and she had sweat pearls in her hairline. "That she isn't affected, I mean."

Alice nodded. Others were starting to leave around them and Alice, Marlene and Mary were ones of the few left sitting.

"We should leave too." Alice figured she needed to take some initiative because, clearly, the others weren't.

"I guess," Mary sighed, standing. Marlene stood too and, going over to Alice, she linked her arm through Alice's. Mary came over too and took Alice's other arm around hers.

As they made their way up the main stairs and the pressed silence had settled over the group of Ravenclaws and Gryffindors like a thick comforter, once more. Alice couldn't believe that only half an hour ago she had been sitting at the table in Slughorn's office, digging into a delicious piece of strawberry cake.

* * *

"You alright mate?" Peter asked, sitting down next to Sirius on the bed.

Sirius shrugged. Of course he wasn't alright, no one was, but he was coping.

"Yeah, just thinking."

"You'd say if something wasn't, right?"

Sirius nodded again as the dorm door closed and Peter returned downstairs. He sighed and fell back onto the bed. There was nothing he could do about it, what had happened had happened.

Hiding up here wouldn't erase the nagging feeling in his chest as he waited for information, but he simply couldn't go downstairs. The ones still awake were gathered around the WWN, waiting patiently for any news. So far it had all followed schedule with one Celestina Warbeck song replacing another.

He should do something, he really should. Everyone was owling their families, not resting until they knew everyone they cared for was alright. But everyone Sirius cared for was already in the castle, worrying about their own families. Getting an idea, Sirius stood and took his robe from the hanger.

The dungeons were almost completely dark, the only light coming from the few torches on the walls. He found himself standing in front of the stone wall much sooner than he'd figured out what to do next. Carefully raising a hand he knocked, not knowing if it would be any good. It was. The stone in front of him seemed to melt before his eyes and a passage revealed itself.

"…first year forgot the password." The boy coming over to the entrance said, then he looked up at Sirius and froze. "Well, what do we have here. A Black coming to see what he's missed," he smirked.

"Evening, Alex." Sirius greeted his cousin. "Is Reg here?"

"Reg!" Alex Wilkes broke out laughing. "Still, Black, after all these years. You still call him that?" A chatter of laughs followed from inside the room.

"Is he here?" Sirius repeated.

"I guess." Wilkes shrugged. "REG! Someone's here to see you."

A moment of pressed silence passed before his brother appeared in the doorway.

"Care to come for a walk?" Sirius asked. Regulus paused and looked from him to Wilkes before nodding.

"I'll be waiting for you to return him!" Wilkes called after him as they walked away.

"What did you want." Regulus asked, not rude, but short and impatiently.

"I just…wanted to see you were alright," Sirius began. "I mean…we're family after all."

"Yeah, I'm fine." Regulus looked down at his hands.

"Good."

"Yes."

Sirius bit his lip, trying to come up with something else to say.

"Was that all?" Regulus asked.

"Yes…I guess."

"I'll go then."

"Sure."

Regulus turned and started walking away when Sirius felt an urge to say something more.

"Hey, Reg!" His brother turned. "Be careful."

Regulus nodded and, turning the corner, was gone again.

Sirius turned too, when he was sure Regulus had gone, and made his way up the stairs. It hadn't turned out the way he'd wanted it to, not that he had known how he wanted it to go. He had seen others, both those he knew and those he didn't, care for their younger siblings. Sitting together and calming them, stroking their hair and hushing them to sleep. He hadn't hoped for that, but some part deep inside of him had maybe wished for a heartfelt exchange where they admitted they were scared and that no matter what happened they would always be brothers.

Sirius climbed the last stairs to the common room and the Fat Lady swung open upon him giving her the password (jack o'lantern). The common room was dead quiet apart from the jazzy tunes of Celestina Warbeck's "You Charmed The Heart Right Out Of Me."

"What's happening?" Sirius snuck up behind James.

"They're doing the news," James whispered. "Right after this ."

Sirius wanted to run up to the dorm again and hide under the covers. He didn't want to hear what they had done. Still, if he didn't it would drive him crazy. He settled on the chair beside

James and waited out the song. Even before the last tunes had rung out a male voice filled in and informed them this was an extra announcement following the events in London.

"We have Auror John Dawlish with us here," the male voice said. "John, can you tell us what has happened?"

"Certainly, Eric," Dawlish replied. "At seven thirty tonight the Auror office got information about a disorder at a pub in central London, known to be common whereabouts for Ministry workers.

We were immediately at the spot. Unfortunately, most of the attackers had fled by then. We were able to take in a few of them though, and they have been recognised to be so-called 'death eaters'."

"What do you know about the witches and wizards in the pub?" the reporter asked, his voice more than a little shaken.

"At present our team is still searching throughtout the area and we have no exact numbers. The latest

reports mentioned ten or more deaths, and around the same number of injured."

"And the injured have been taken to St. Mungo's?"

"We are working on it," Dawlish said. "The building is absolutely trashed, and getting people out is very difficult work. I assure you that we are doing our best."

The WWN crackled and when the line stabilised again, Eric's was the only voice left. He only repeated what they already knew.

"Is that all!" someone exclaimed. "Bloody media."

It was a relief to hear someone talk, a reminder that they were still able to talk, and the tension

eased slightly.

"They don't know anything else," someone else snapped.

"Sure they do. They just won't tell us," a third replied. There was a mumble of agreements.

"Do you wanna go?" Sirius leaned in towards James, who nodded.

Remus and Peter followed as they made their way up the stairs and into the dorm. Frank and

Arnold were still downstairs so they had it to themselves. Sirius had never felt more uncomfortable at the thought of sitting around alone in the dorm.

"So…what do we do now?" James asked, standing awkwardly in the middle of the room.

"I guess we try and sleep?" Remus suggested.

"I won't be able to," Peter said, going over to the nightstand and taking out a bag of Bertie Bott's

Every Flavour Beans.

"Stay awake then," Remus yawned, laying down on the bed. "I'm exhausted."

Sirius felt drained too, but he couldn't possibly sleep. Taking a bean from the bag Peter offered him, he settled on his bed.

* * *

It was almost dawn. Alice was cradled up in her bed asleep, with the letter from her mum saying she and her father were at home and fine beside her. Marlene had gone to see that her brother Mickey was sleeping. Left awake were Lily, Mary, Elizabeth and Amelia. Mary was cuddled up in Lily's bed with her head resting on her friend's shoulder. She was happy for Alice, really, who could fall asleep knowing her closest family was safe. Mary had no way of contacting her mum, or dad for another hour or so when the sun had set properly. Neither did Lily or Elizabeth.

"We can't just sit here," Amelia mumbled a while later, sitting on the floor leaned against Lily's bed. "We need to do something."

"What can we do?" Elizabeth moaned, pulling herself up in a sitting position.

"I don't know. Why don't we play Exploding Snaps?"

Lily looked at her like she was insane. "You've got to be joking?" Lily breathed. "My parents left for London last night." Lily nodded towards the letter thrown on top of her nightstand. It had arrived from her mum a few days ago and at the time no one had given her parents London trip a second though. Now, Lily had spent most of the evening reading and re-reading it, looking for clues that simply didn't exist. "I have no way of contacting them and for all I know they could have gone out to eat and they could've chosen that bar. They could be dead!" Lily sat upright, Mary's head falling off her shoulder and waking her. "So I'm sorry that I don't feel like playing Exploding Snaps!"

"Sorry…" Amelia mumbled. "It was just a suggestion."

"A real shitty one," Lily snapped back and rose from the bed. The door slammed shut behind her, waking Alice.

"What's happening?" She sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"Lily left," Mary said, glaring at Amelia. "Come with me looking for her."

"What did you say happened again?" Alice asked, wrapping her robe tighter around her as a window rattled in the wind and cold air flowed past them.

"Amelia suggested we play Exploding Snaps-"

"That was insensitive of her," Alice cut in.

Mary nodded. "-and Lily got really upset about it, saying she couldn't possibly play Exploding Snaps when her parents could be dead."

Alice nodded, thoughtfully. "What about you? How're you getting on?"

"Okay, I guess." Mary shrugged. It had worried her to begin with, her parents lived close enough to the bar that they could have been there, but the more she thought about it as the night passed, the more she came to the conclusion that they were fine, they had to be. It was a school night, they wouldn't have left Laura at home to go out. Also, if they had, they would have gone to the restaurant on the corner, not some bar they didn't know anything about.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I'm fine." She threw her arm around Alice's shoulders and pulled her close. "Don't worry about me."

"I…it's just…why don't you go send them an owl, just to be sure." Alice suggested.

"I don't want to leave you alone."

"It's fine. I'll continue look for Lily, and we'll meet up in the dorm later," Alice assured her and

ushered her away in the direction of the Owlery.

There were others in the Owlery as well, sending owls to their families. A younger boy lent Mary a quill and, finding a crumpled up parchment in her coat pocket, she scribbled down a few words on it.

 _Mum, Dad._

 _There was an attack in London yesterday, you might have heard about it. There were some wizards involved and they've cancelled tomorrow's lessons. Alice thought I should write and tell you. Hope you're all well._

 _/Mary_

There was no need to say anything else and worry them further, surely all they needed to know would be on the news in the morning. She thanked the boy and attached the letter to a brown barn owl. just as she was about to leave the door opened and Florence Bell entered. Looking at Mary, her expression changed to one of pity.

"Ms. McKinnon," she said. "Dumbledore wants to see you."

"I'm…" Mary began correcting the girl on the use of her last name.

"There is no need to be upset. Dumbledore will tell you everything." Florence put a hand on her shoulder.

Mary swallowed.

"Okay," she breathed. "I'll go."

"Good." Florence took her hand away from Mary's shoulder.

Amelia and Elizabeth had left the dorm by the time she got back, but Marlene had returned. She was sitting on her bed staring out the window

"Marls? Are you alright?" Mary approached her.

Marlene nodded. "Where were you?" she asked, not taking her eyes of the darkness outside the window.

Mary sat down on the stool next to the drawer, she was feeling lightheaded just at the thought of what she was obliged to say.

"I was in the Owlery…" she began, "and I ran into Florence Bell." She had difficulty keeping her voice steady. "She…she must've thought I was you…because she told me, 'Ms. McKinnon', that Dumbledore wanted to speak to me." Marlene finally took her eyes from the window, looking straight at Mary.

"What?"

"I…I'm sorry." Mary didn't know what to say.

Marlene's bottom lip trembled. "It's…it's mum," she said.

"You don't know…"

"I do…" Marlene sniffled looking down at her hands."…she always went there after work."

"You'll still need to go," Mary said. "He's…he's expecting you."

"Will you come with me?" Marlene looked up at her with red and tear-stained cheeks.

"Of…of course." Mary stood and went over to the bed. She took a tissue from the drawer on the

way out and handed it to Marlene.

* * *

Marlene took a deep breath and dried the tears from her eyes with the tissue. She turned to Mary, who looked encouragingly at her, before stepping onto the rotating stairs.

She found herself outside the door, unable to raise her hand and knock. A minute or so passed before she heard the stairs spin behind her and Will appeared by her side. Turning, her eyes met those of her brother. He'd never really felt like a big brother to her. More often than not, Marlene had been like his big sister. But now as their eyes met, Marlene knew he saw his baby sister in need of help. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. He stoked her hair while she broke out sobbing into his chest. The words she'd thought out in her head came out as incomprehensible noises. Will hushed her and stoked her back until, finally, her sobs ceased.

Then he did what Marlene hadn't been able to: he knocked on the door. Not a minute had passed when the door opened and Dumbledore appeared.

"Ms. McKinnon, Mr. McKinnon. Come in," he said, and opened the door wider. There were two

chairs in front of Dumbledore's desk and he asked them to sit down. He handed Marlene another handkerchief before settling behind the desk and scrutinizing her as Marlene blew her nose and sniffled. She didn't like it, being watched that intensely. It was like she was being assessed.

"I think you might have already understood why you are here?" Dumbledore sighed, dropping

his gaze.

Marlene nodded, and so did Will next to her.

"We are waiting for your brother and sister to arrive, and then we will get to it."

Marlene felt like an hour must've passed by the time the door opened again. She heard someone talking behind her but she couldn't bring herself to turn.

"Come in," came Dumbledore's voice. He had left his chair and ushered the new arrivals into the room. Ellie came and sat next to Marlene on a chair that hadn't been there when Marlene had sat down. Mickey came and sat at Will's side. Marlene looked over at her sister and immediately felt her eyes tear up again. She raised her gaze to the ceiling and blinked to stop the tears from coming.

She couldn't break down now, she needed to be the responsible big sister. Her time to cry was over.

Dumbledore sat down in his chair again, and offered them a plate of biscuits. No one moved.

"Well, then." He sighed, putting the plate back behind the desk. "It is unfortunate we can not meet under better circumstances." He looked at the four siblings, his eyes full of pity. "It deeply saddens me to be the deliverer of such sad news." He rubbed his forehead. Marlene wished he could just get to it. The build up was worse than it could possibly be to have it out in the open. "I am afraid that, when the Aurors searched the bar late last night, they came across your mother.

There was nothing they could do for her."

Marlene had known it already, but hearing it aloud made it all so much more real. Dead. The word rang in her ears as an echo that wouldn't die out. She looked around, first at Ellie and then to Will and Mickey, her vision getting more blurred by the second and tears threatening to spill from her eyes. She bit her bottom lip to keep in a sob. She looked back to Ellie, who hadn't had a clue what was coming. Her brows were more creased than Marlene had ever wished to see them.

Reaching forward, Marlene took her hand in her own and squeezed it as reassuringly as she

could muster.

"Your aunt and brother will be here tonight to take you home," Dumbledore spoke again, causing

Marlene to jump. She had managed to forget he was even there. "Until then Madam Pomfrey has offered you to stay in the hospital wing, but you could return to your dorms if you wish."

Marlene looked at Ellie as she composed herself enough to speak.

"I…I need to collect some…some things from my dorm." It was like she'd forgotten how to speak English. "I could get Mickey's stuff as well."

"Very good, Ms. McKinnon." Dumbledore nodded. "What do you think?" He directed his question at the others.

"Mickey and Ellie should go to Madam Pomfrey, she could get them something for the shock.

I'll get my stuff, and maybe I could take Ellie's as well," Will said. Beside her he appeared so calm and collected. Marlene couldn't remember the last time he had acted his age.

Mary was still standing outside the gargoyle when they came down. Marlene hid her face in her hands, she'd never thought she'd be that happy to see Mary. Mary came forward and Marlene threw her arms around her.

"She's dead." She sniffed into Mary's shoulder. From the corner of her eye she saw Will pass with Ellie on one arm and Mickey on the other.

"I'm so sorry Marls," Mary whispered.

"I'm…'m fine." She pulled back from Mary.

"What…what do you wanna do?"

She wanted her mum to emerge from the dead and hold her in her arms and promise her she would never leave, she wanted to wake up from this nightmare.

"I…I need to get my…my stuff." She breathed between sobs. "And…and Mickey's."

"Okay, hon. Let's do that." Mary held an arm around her wrist. Marlene didn't think she'd be able to move forward had it not been for that.

As they moved towards Gryffindor tower Marlene told herself to get a grip. She needed to be strong and hold together for the sake of everyone else: her siblings, her dad, her aunt.

It wasn't too crowded in the common room, but the few groups of students around the room turned their heads as they made their way across the room. Marlene wanted to scream at them to stop, but she had no energy to. She hadn't slept in over 24 hours and the extensive crying had left her exhausted. Leading her into the dorm, Mary set her down on the bed and quietly went over to the other girls who watched her from afar, their eyebrows furrowed.

* * *

James didn't expect to find Lily on the verge of tears as he opened the dorm door. The crying wasn't too unexpected, everyone seemed to be in over-emotional states, but why she was outside their dorm, hair pulled up in a messy bun and cheeks flustered, he couldn't understand for his life.

"Lily? Is everything alright?" he asked, resisting the urge to hug her.

"No, or…I mean…I am," she stuttered. "Marls…she…she isn't."

"What? What's happened?"

Lily breathed and looked up before speaking.

"Er…It's her…her mum…she didn't make it."

James' stomach tightened.

"Marls…she…she's in our dorm. She's so upset James…we don't know what to…" Her voice failed her.

"Okay…" James stood awkwardly. "Should…should I come and see if I can do something?"

Lily pressed her lips together and nodded. "Please."

The dorm was a mess. Marlene's possessions lay scattered across the floor, like she'd started to collect her things but hadn't finished. Alice and Mary sat on either side of the four-poster bed, stroking Marlene's back as she heaved in sobs.

"She found her mum's last letter," Alice whispered, handing James a crumpled piece of paper.

"Marls, sweetie." James leaned closer to her head. She glanced up from the pillow she had had her head pressed against.

"James?" she sobbed.

"Yeah." He stoked her hair and wiped the fresh tears off her cheeks.

"She's…she's gone," Marlene yelped and buried her face in the pillow again. James felt like

doing the same. He had known Mrs. McKinnon since he was little, she'd been like family.

"I know," he sighed, climbing up next to her on the bed.

"Dead!" Marlene sobbed. James continued to stroke her hair as she cried into the pillow, fighting hard to keep his own emotions under control.

"It's alright," he whispered. "It'll all be alright."

Somehow, he managed to urge Marlene's face away from the pillow and get her to sit up in bed.

"I…I need to get the things," she sniffled, her face red and blotchy. "Mine…and Mickey's." Her bloodshot eyes looked up at him.

"It's all fine." James stroked her wet cheeks. "Lily will pack your things." He looked to Lily for confirmation. She nodded. "And Alice will talk to Mickey's dorm mates about his things." James hugged her arm. "Alright?"

She nodded stiffly.

"If you want to, I could get Ellie's stuff collected," Mary offered.

"What do you say, Marls?" James looked at her.

"Yeah." Marlene dried her eyes on the sheets. "That's good."

As the door closed behind Alice, James adjusted on the bed and replaced his arm behind Marlene's head with a pillow.

"I will be right back, Marls. I'm just getting you a glass of water." He stood and went over to the bathroom.

He located a cup on the shelf below the mirror, in between a perfume bottle and a pile of other stuff which simply couldn't be necessary. The door creaked open and Lily came in, it took James by such surprise that he dropped the cup and it broke against the sink.

"Merlin, Lily. You scared me!" He repaired the cup with his wand.

"Thank you," she mumbled, looking down at her hands.

"Sorry?"

"We couldn't have managed without you."

"It's nothing." He picked up the cup and filled it, all the while very aware of how little space there was between them in the small bathroom which was very clearly only made for one. "She's like my sister."

"Obviously." Lily hesitated. "But…at the end of the day…I thought you might not do it after all."

"I'd do anything for her," he said.

Lily smiled. "I'm rubbish at this, you know," she confessed. "All this grieving stuff."

"Isn't everyone?"

"No. I mean it. I'm the worst. I've been petrified, I've wanted to do something. But I've been

petrified." She looked down at her hands. "And you just come in here and sweep us off the chart. She'd been crying into her pillow for half an hour before you came."

"I've been doing it forever, you learn how a person works after a while, you know?"

"I guess." She leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes.

"Have you heard from your parents?" he asked.

"Yeah." She opened her eyes again, smiling a bit. "They're fine."

"I'm happy for you."

"Thank you." Lily bit her lower lip and stopped for a second, hesitating, before she took the half

step left between them and folded her arms around him. In all the scenarios James had imagined hugging Lily Evans, inside the bathroom in the girls' dorm had never been one of them.

"You're such a good friend," she whispered, and for a moment James thought she'd start to cry again. "To Marlene, and Sirius, and Remus and Peter."

He didn't reply.

"You know…" She pulled back. "That's the cup I have my toothbrush in." She glanced at the cup

on the sink, where he'd put it down.

"Oh…well…" He laughed nervously.

"I would maybe just create a new one," Lily suggested. "You're top of the class after all."

"Just Transfiguration," he said, raising his hand to run it through his hair.

"Well, that's good enough, isn't it?" Lily turned and walked out of the bathroom. James couldn't decide if she'd been smiling or not.

* * *

Mary hurried across the halls of Hogwarts. Other people passed her, but there was an unfamiliar atmosphere over the castle. No one stopped to talk or even smile at passersby, everyone busy with their own stuff. The corridor from the Entrance Hall and down towards the Hufflepuff common room was empty but as Mary reached the stack of barrels she stopped. She knew where the common room was, but she had never actually known how to get in.

"Mary?" For a good five minutes, she'd stood dumbstruck in front of the barrels before she heard Dorcas behind her. She shouldn't have been afraid to turn, but after the last hours she couldn't comfort another crying friend. She didn't know what made her so sure that her friend would be crying, but she was positive of it. When she turned, however, her eyes didn't meet bloodstained or puffy ones, but dry ones.

"Hi." Mary sighed, relieved.

"What are you doing here?" Dorcas asked, coming over.

"I'm trying to find Felicia eh…Powell. Asking her to collect some stuff for Marlene's sister."

"Oh yes, I heard. I'm so sorry for them, and for you. Did you know her well?"

"No…not really." Mary thought she'd said hello to Mrs. McKinnon at the platform once or twice, but mostly she recognised her from the family photo on Marlene's nightstand.

"Oh, okay. That's good…I guess."

Mary nodded in agreement.

"Should I see if I can find Felicia?" Dorcas offered.

"Yes, please."

Dorcas' composed state was refreshing after the morning Mary had spent locked in the dorm, but it worried her too. How could she be so composed? Normally, Dorcas would be upset at every mishap; how could she stay so cool when the rest of the school was in distress?

"Do you want to come in?" Dorcas offered, standing half inside a passage.

"Are you sure?" Mary hesitated, knowing that bringing other houses into Gryffindor tower

would most likely result in a duel should the wrong people be in the common room.

"Of course. Everyone will love you."

Mary rolled her eyes, partly at the Hufflepuffness in her friend's reply, and partly because surely there would be people inside who she had gotten into a fight with at one point or another.

"Dorcas," Mary began as they climbed the stairs to Dorcas' dormitory. "Can I ask you something?"

Dorcas nodded, pushing the wooden door open and holding out her hand for Mary to enter the room. It wasn't round, like the Gryffindor one, but rectangular with three beds pushed against each of the two longer walls.

"How are you so…calm?" she asked. "Everyone else seem to be breaking down, but you act like you always do."

"Well…" Dorcas sat down on her bed and started searching through the drawer of her bedside

table. "I guess I've got no one to lose. Mum's working in America, and dad never wanted anything to do with me in the first place." She shrugged. "I'm upset about the attack, but I'm used to handling upset."

The door swung open and another girl entered the dorm. She walked past them and over to the bed beside Dorcas'. Taking a rubber band from her arm, she threw her hair up in a messy bun and lay down on the bed with her legs resting against the headboard.

"What do you mean 'you're used to handling upset'." Mary asked, feeling terrible she didn't know. She looked at Dorcas, whose eyes still rested on the girl who'd just arrived.

"Oh, nothing." She shrugged, looking down. The girl still hadn't paid them any attention. Mary wondered if she was crying; it wouldn't have surprised her, but she wasn't.

Dorcas had stood up and now she tugged at Mary's arm to make her stand too.

"Who was that?" Mary asked, as Dorcas dragged her along down the stairs. Dorcas' facial expression had changed. Her gaze was lowered again and she bit her bottom lip.

"Ivy," she said, walking down into the common room again. The name rang a bell with Mary, although she couldn't recall if it was from some class or because Dorcas had mentioned her before. "We…we used to be friends." Dorcas bit her lip harder. And the pieces fell into place.

"That Ivy?" she exclaimed. Dorcas hushed her.

"Yes."

"The one from that night?"

Dorcas nodded.

"With Louise?"

"Yes."

"Oh, Dorcas." Mary pulled her friend into a hug.

"It's fine really."

"You don't look fine."

"I promise."

Mary was about to argue the point, but Felicia appeared at her side, carrying a bag at her side.

"It's all done," she announced.

Mary smiled at her and, without thinking, hugged her too. Dorcas released a small laugh behind

her.

"What?" Mary turned.

"It's just…I never saw you as a hugging person." Dorcas smiled.

"Well…maybe I am. In secret." It was like a weight had lifted from her chest at Dorcas' laugh,

however small it was. She hadn't heard anything even close to it in nearly two days.

"Mary."

Turning on the spot Mary saw Felicia, who held out the bag for her to take. "Thank you." She took the bag. I'll get back to Marlene with this. And Dorcas, just tell me if you need anything."

She walked through the cosy common room, feeling a bit better than she had when she entered. That feeling, whatever it was, was soon replaced with a nagging feeling in her chest. She felt horrible she didn't know about Dorcas' family, that she hadn't recognised Ivy, that she still didn't really know who Ivy was. Still, after considering Dorcas to be her friend for two years, she didn't know how this Ivy fit into her life.

She felt terrible about Marlene as well. Mary had pushed her to the ground, right before she lost her mother, and for what? Because she didn't really like her? And everyone else she had made herself enemies with, because of a crazy rumour about one thing or another. She'd been a fool.

She'd almost reached Gryffindor tower by the time she realised what it was really all about. It was the thick grey blanket over the school that closed out all sunshine and happiness. It'd made her mad, she could only think of what an awful person she was. A chill ran down her spine and she pulled the cardigan closer around her as she made her way down the last corridor towards the Fat Lady. The temperature must've dropped outside and it was noticeable inside. Without all the students in movement around the school. Normally, the thought of Gryffindor common room and the sparkling fire would've made her feel warmer at once, but not even that seemed to be able to get her on better thoughts.

* * *

"Why the hell are there Dementors around the school?" James slammed the door to the boys' dorm shut behind him.

"What? Dementors?" Peter tensed and looked around, though he'd seemed fine a moment ago.

"Dementors?" Sirius repeated, lifting his head from the pillow.

"Yeah, right outside the wall," James said. "Lily spotted them from the window."

"Lily, huh." Sirius grinned, sitting up on the bed. "Since when is she 'Lily', Prongs? What're you not telling us?"

"Shut up, Padfoot." James scoffed, walking over to the window. "There are Dementors right outside and you still care about me and Evans."

"Well, I felt terrible. Then you dropped this Evans bomb and, weirdly enough, I feel much better."

"Well, that's good for you," Remus mumbled, sitting down on the chair beside the wardrobe.

"Because I feel like shit."

His head was aching and he was glad he'd sat down because otherwise he was sure he would've passed out.

"There's some chocolate in the top drawer," James offered.

Remus reached out and fumbled around the messy drawer before finding the bar. Stuffing a piece into his mouth, he passed it on to James.

"How is Marls?" Sirius asked, swallowing his chocolate.

James sighed.

"That bad?" Sirius glanced up.

"No, she's coping. Or, she was until the Dementors came." James ran his hand through his hair.

"I'm going back there soon, to go with her to Dumbledore. But I wanted to see you all were alright. How're you feeling Moony?"

It shouldn't have taken Remus as long as it did to figure out what James meant.

"Merlin, I forgot." He stood up a bit too quickly, because before he could say anything everything went black before his eyes.

"Moony, mate."

Someone was shaking him. He couldn't figure out who. Opening his eyes slightly, he saw the ceiling of his four poster bed, or a four poster bed.

"Mmh," he groaned, not daring to move.

"Moony." James leaned forward. "How are you?"

"Dunno, what happened?"

"You stood up, and then you passed out," Peter said, sitting down at his side. "Padfoot caught you."

Remus turned his head slightly to see Sirius on his other side.

"Thanks mate." He meant to smile, but his entire body was in pain. From passing out or because of the coming transformation, he didn't know.

Sirius grinned at him. "Anytime."

"So, how are you feeling?" Peter passed a chocolate bar to him.

"Like shit," he whimpered.

"Really? Because you look terrific." Sirius grinned.

"Pads," James said.

"What? I really think dark circles might be the latest trend."

"Come on mate, let's get you to the hospital wing." James stood and started lifting Remus off the bed.

"But…Marlene…" Remus murmured.

"It's fine," James sighed. "The girls have got it covered."

"No, Prongs. He's right," Sirius said. "We've got this, right Wormtail?"

Peter nodded and gave Remus another piece of chocolate.

* * *

Everything was spinning. Fireplaces were passing by. Marlene thought she might be sick, if not from the spinning, then from the thought of going home. Her dad would be a mess. She could picture it more vividly than she'd ever pictured anything before. Her dad had never been good at keeping his emotions in check, crying at everything and anything, but this? This was a whole other story. How would he move on from this, how would any of them?

For a minute everything went white, as though a bright light had lit everything up. The thought of if 'this was what dying felt like' had just entered her head when she stumbled out of the fireplace at home and onto the sitting room rug. She breathed in, not realising she'd brought a whole lot of ashes with her out into the room, and then wobbled over and fell down on the sofa, coughing. Her eyes teared up from the coughing fit and by the time her vision was back again, Her brother Mike was sitting next to her on the sofa with a hand on her back.

"Are you okay, baby?"

"No." She glanced up at him and felt tears burn behind her eyes again. Leaning in and burying her face in his chest, she felt the tears start to run down her cheeks.


	9. Ziggy Stardust

**A/N: I'm back from the very unexpected summer hiatus! Hopefully next chapter won't take three months to publish *goes to hide in shame***

 **Miggie: thank you for your kind words!**

 **Everything you recognize belongs to JK Rowling, if that wasn't obvious**

 **R &R**

 **/Liz**

* * *

"Yes, Mr. Black, I know it's your birthday." McGonagall put her wand down on her desk. "And I have no intention of 'ruining' your day, but I can't allow house elves in my classroom."

"Come on, Minnie." Sirius smiled.

"No, Mr. Black." McGonagall raised her voice as she got closer to his desk, to make herself heard over the elves' singing. "I can not teach with 'happy birthday' being sung in my ear." She turned to the half a dozen elves standing behind the desk Sirius and James shared. "I'm sorry, you'll have to leave."

Immediately, the elves' singing stopped and they scrambled out of the classroom, mumbling "yes, Ma'am" and "sorry" as they left.

"Sorry, mate." James leaned over to Sirius as McGonagall made her way back to the desk.

"Not your fault Minnie's in a bad mood," Sirius said. "It was a good idea."

He leaned in and glanced at James' piece of parchment where they were supposed to be taking notes.

"Really, Prongs?" He grabbed the piece of paper. "L.E.+J.P. That's very classy. You might as well write 'hey! Lily Evans will you have my children?' ."

"Shut up." James took the piece of parchment. "Wanna play hangman?"

"Only if you promise the words will never again be 'green eyes' or 'red hair' ."

"That was once!" James protested.

"Mr. Potter, Mr. Black. Is there anything you want to share with the class?" McGonagall once again stopped mid-sentence in her revision of vanishing spells.

"Just one thing, Professor." Sirius grinned. "L.E.+J.P."

"If it wasn't your birthday I'd kill you." James leaned forward and pulled out a strand of Sirius hair.

"Oi, mate! That hurt." Sirius rubbed the place above his ear where James had pulled.

"You deserved it."

"No one understood it anyways." Sirius crossed his arms.

* * *

"L.E+J.P." Mary repeated. "How're you not getting this, Lils?"

"Because it's Sirius," Lily said, opening the door to the dorm. "He's being ridiculous."

"Who's being ridiculous?" A voice asked from inside.

"Marls?" Lily asked.

"Surprise, or something."

"When did you come back?" Lily went over and sat beside Marlene on her bed.

"Like…half an hour ago." Marlene glanced at the watch on the night side table.

"How are you?" Alice sat down on the other side of her.

"Okay." She shrugged. "I wasn't gonna miss tonight though."

"What's tonight?" Alice frowned.

"Sirius' birthday, they're having a party."

"And we're going?" Lily sighed.

"Well…I am. It's Sirius after all."

"You mean Sirius. Who's nothing but a friend?" Lily asked.

"Oh yeah, that you can pick up on." Alice glowered at Lily.

"What?" Marlene asked, turning to Alice.

"Sirius said something-"

"Ridiculous," Lily put in.

"Sirius said something in class today. McGonagall asked if there was anything he and Potter

wanted to share with the class and Sirius said 'L.E.+J.P.'."

"Really?" Marlene smiled. Mary hadn't noticed how much she'd missed that smile until now.

"He said that?"

"Yes," Mary put in. "Will you please tell her that it isn't just Black messing around?"

Marlene opened her mouth but Alice interrupted before she got to it.

"Okay, we're getting off subject. Marls just came back from being home because her mum died, and we're just telling gossip that'll have no meaning in a few years."

"So James and Lily won't be relevant in a few years?" Mary asked.

"No!" Lily exclaimed. "We won't."

"Still, not the important part." Alice pressed. "How are you feeling, Marls?"

"Actually, Al." Marlene looked up. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"Yeah, sure." Alice refolded her hands in her lap. "No problem. I need to go get a library book. Are you coming, Lily?"

Lily glanced between Mary and Marlene.

"It's fine, Lils," Marlene said. "We won't…I don't know, claw each other's eyes out."

Lily smiled hesitantly. "Sure."

"Mary."

At Marlene's words Mary looked up from the article she'd been reading. She'd only gotten a few sentences in. Every time she started over she was soon distracted by how quiet the room was and found herself on the edge of saying something before changing her mind and starting the article over again.

"Yeah."

"Could you fix my hair?" Marlene touched one of her braids.

"You don't like it?" Mary asked. "It's…stunning."

"It was all my aunt's idea." Marlene chuckled.

"Oh…thank Merlin. I thought you actually thought it looked good."

"Oh, no. Aunt Edna is great, but she's a bit…old fashioned."

"So the no make-up…thing." She gestured towards Marlene's face.

"Apparently I'm 'too young'." Marlene laughed again.

There was a moment of tense silence before Marlene spoke again.

"So, can you?"

"Oh, yeah…sure." Mary sat up on her bed. "Curls?"

Marlene nodded. "How did you know?"

"You were talking about it for the Hogsmeade weekend."

"Right."

"Okay, wait. I'll go get the rollers."

"Why don't you use magic?"

"Rolls work flawlessly. Magic, not so much." Mary chuckled, rummaging through the desk drawer.

"Okay then. Work your magic."

Mary took the final roll from Marlene's hair and the soft curl fell and framed her face.

"Sit still, and I'll get the spray." She hurried into the bathroom.

Closing the door behind her, she breathed out. She couldn't remember the last time she and Marlene had been alone for this long, and she half expected them to break out in a shouting match at any moment. She opened the cabinet next to the mirror and took out the hair spray. She could've used magic, sure, but it was nice doing it the Muggle way. Going through the ritual of rolling and waiting, unrolling and spraying was calming and normal.

Taking a look in the mirror and folding a piece of hair right, she went back into the dorm.

"Okay, sit still."

She lifted a curl at the back of Marlene's hair and sprayed it with a generous amount of hair

spray. She lifted another one and sprayed it, slowly working her way around Marlene's head. All the while her mind was on those two words she'd never said, and whether she should do it now.

"I'm sorry." As the words slipped from her lips it didn't sound like her voice.

"What?" Marlene turned her head and the sudden movement caused Mary to jerk and

Spray some hair spray on Marlene's cheek."

"About…Cody. And everything else." Mary turned her back to Marlene as she went to get a tissue to dry the hair spray away.

"You don't have to be nice." Marlene took the tissue and patted her cheek. "Just because of…my mum."

"I'm not."

"Then why?"

"I…I don't know."

"It's weird."

"What do you mean?" Mary had stopped spraying but still held the container in her hand.

"Me…being nice. To you. I've never done that before."

"I haven't really been the best to you either."

"No, but I started it. It was just…people always comparing us. I was sick of being compared."

"Aren't you still?" Mary put the container down on the drawer and sat down at the edge of her bed.

"Yeah, but it's not gonna get better because I'm being a bitch."

"You…you were never really a bitch."

"Well…"

Somewhere behind them, Mary heard the door open and close. But she didn't pay any attention

to it.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Amelia Harris stepped into Mary's view.

"Er…" Mary was pulled back to reality. "Nothing."

"Oh, rolls!" Elizabeth exclaimed and came over to Marlene's side. "My sister has these."

"Yeah, I'm curling her hair for tonight." Mary was happy for the excuse to talk.

"What's tonight?" Amelia asked.

"You don't know?" Marlene turned. "It's Sirius' birthday."

"Oh, of course. He mentioned it at Quidditch practice."

"Mary, are you done here?" Marlene gestured towards her hair.

"No." Mary sprinted off the bed. She'd entirely forgotten about the spraying. "I'm not."

"Finally. Where were you?" Marlene exclaimed when Alice and Lily opened the door to the dorm.

"Well, we ran into Frank-" Lily began.

"Oh, really?" Mary grinned and looked to Alice.

"It was nothing."

"No, just about half an hour of nervous banter." Lily smiled.

"It wasn't that bad, was it?"

"No, Al, you did fine."

"Merlin, Marls. Your hair!" Alice exclaimed.

"Mary did it. Doesn't it look nice?" Marlene touched one of her curls.

"So…you two are…"

"Everything's fine." Marlene smiled

* * *

Ten minutes passed before the door opened and Marlene stepped in.

"Blimey, Marls." Sirius came up to her.

"Oh, shut up." Marlene smiled.

"No, really. You…you look great. The hair is…"

"Thanks." Marlene touched one of her curls self-consciously. "Mary did it."

"MacDonald?"

"Yeah."

"I thought…"

"We're fine." Marlene shrugged.

"Speaking of the devil, where are the others?"

"They're coming. Lils couldn't find her dress."

"Evans in a dress? Woah, Prongs will go wild."

"Merlin, you two are disgusting." She shook her head with a chuckle.

"I'm not disgusting, I said you look nice."

"And there were no implications there." Marlene raised her eyebrows.

"No! What do you think?"

"Well…I don't know. You're…you."

"You're hurting my feelings, McKinnon!" Sirius put a hand over his heart.

"Merlin, you're impossible." Marlene pushed him aside just as James appeared from the crowds.

"Marls. You're here."

"Of course I am. Wouldn't miss our dear Siri's birthday." She threw an arm around Sirius' shoulder and pulled him to her side again.

"I should veto that nickname right now, but I kinda like it." Sirius planted a kiss on her cheek,

Forgetting about James.

"Woah, slow down here!" James looked between the two of them.

"Oh, Prongs, you don't need to be jealous." Leaning forward, Sirius kissed James' cheek too.

"Okay but seriously Marls." James wiped his cheek. "Are you sure you're up for this?"

"Stop worrying. I'm fine."

"Because you know if you weren't-"

"I swear, if you finish that sentence I will strangle you."

"What's Potter saying now?"

"Evans. Hi." James stood up straighter and rubbed his cheek again.

"Keeps asking if I'm fine."

"I'm just worried. Do you want a drink, Evans?"

"Sure. Show the way." Mary and Alice followed her as she disappeared into the crowd after James.

"Okay, what was that kiss about?" Marlene turned to him.

"I dunno, didn't think about James."

"That's the only problem?" Marlene frowned.

"What?"

"You kissed me. We don't kiss."

"Calm down. It's not like I snogged you in front of everyone."

"Sorry, it was just…weird." She rubbed her cheek just like James had.

"I won't do it again," Sirius promised.

"I didn't say that."

"You kinda did."

"I just mean. It was weird, because you haven't done it like…ever, but I didn't say I didn't like

it."

"Did you?"

"Well…I don't know."

"You're acting really weird, you know. I've given my mum bigger kisses than that, and you know who my mum is."

"Well that's not fair, you caught me off guard."

Sirius looked like he was about to say something, and when he didn't Marlene frantically searched her mind for something, anything, to start a conversation about. But Sirius beat her to it.

"You want a drink?"

"Please."

* * *

"Doesn't Marls seem a bit too fine?" James plopped into the chair next to Remus.

"Dunno, why?"

"Her mum fucking died. And she's acting like it's any other Friday."

"Well she's probably just in denial."

"You think?"

"Sure. Wouldn't you be?" Remus shrugged.

"I guess." He took a sip of his butterbeer. "Hey, isn't that Caroline?"

Remus looked up and his eyes scanned the room. "Where?"

"Over by the drinks table."

"Oh…" Remus looked down again. "Yeah."

"What?"

"It's just, things didn't end too well."

"Really? I thought it went fine. No one abandoned anyone, no one got into a screaming match."

"You weren't there." Remus fidgeted with the straw in his drink. "I was…horrible."

"I thought we went through this in the Three Broomsticks."

Remus sighed. "You're right, forget about it."

"No, what is it?"

"I was so rude. She was being all nice and blond and perfect, and I acted like a spoiled brat."

"Actually, Moony, I don't think 'blond' is a character trait."

"And red hair is?"

"Oi, watch out." James jabbed his finger at him.

"Sorry."

"Guys, you're boring." Sirius and Peter came over to them.

"I don't feel like dancing," Remus said.

"Oh come on, Moony, it's my birthday." Sirius grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet.

"Come dance."

As Sirius dragged him onto the dance floor, and James followed behind them, the music changed. James saw Peter and Sirius glance at Remus, who frowned before his face lit up.

"No way. You put on Bowie?"

Sirius smiled wider as Life on Mars echoed from the walls. "You looked so down."

"Caroline's here." James leaned in towards Sirius as he said it, but Remus still heard him.

"Grant?"

"No, Caroline Munro is here." Remus sighed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"Who's Caroline Munro?"

"Some Muggle actress my mum likes."

"So…Grant's here." Sirius said.

"I think I saw Annie over there." Remus nodded towards the sofas pushed towards the back of the room where he thought he'd caught a glimpse of Caroline's twin sister.

"That's not what I meant."

"Then what? You've been smitten with her forever."

"I'm not 'smitten' with her. I'm just saying she's one good looking bird." Sirius glanced towards the back of the room. "But, you know, there are rules. You dated her sister."

"I went on one date with her. I don't really think that counts as dating." Remus shrugged. "In that case, you're dating McKinnon."

Ignoring James' loud huff, Sirius looked from Remus to the group of sofas. "Are you sure?"

"You have my blessing to do…whatever."

"But…"

"It's your birthday, not mine."

"Yeah, Padfoot. Go get shagged." James' exclamation made heads turn. "I said that a bit too loud, didn't I?" He lowered his voice.

"Just a tad," Peter said. "Are you thirsty? I'm thirsty."

The Bowie song had ended without Remus realising it, and the song by a wizard rock band that had replaced it seemed to shake the entire room a bit with each beat and Remus didn't know how they'd been able to make themselves heard over it. As they pressed their way through the room to the drinks table, they multiple times had to dodge for dancing students who were flinging their arms around like they weren't connected to their bodies. Finally, with a weird looking green drink in one hand and a paper cone with popcorn in the other, they found a group of empty poufs and chairs.

Not long after they'd sat down, Marlene and Alice joined them.

"Where's Siri?" Marlene asked as she settled on a pouf pushed up against the wall.

"He's getting lucky." James smirked.

"Really?" Marlene bit her lower lip. "Who?"

"Grant?"

"Caroline?" She turned to Remus. "I thought you were dating her."

"One date people, one date." Remus put his hands in the air.

"No, Annie," James told her, ignoring Remus.

"Really? That's…" The song changed again. "Oh, Al! Lils loves this song. We've gotta go find

her." She jumped from her seat as if it'd burnt her and pulled Alice with her onto the dance floor again.

"What's wrong with her?" Peter asked as they disappeared into the crowds.

"Dunno." James shrugged.

* * *

As curfew drew closer, the room quickly emptied and by the time she and Marlene had tracked down Lily, Mary and Dorcas, Alice finally felt like there were room over to breath. Abba was playing and Lily somehow managed to convince them to dance. Alice had never felt more like an elephant on ice than she did as she tried to follow what the others did, but it was a lot of fun. Until the song switched and suddenly a dozen or so couples seemed to grow from the floor, swaying in step with the slow song.

"Okay, can we sit down now?" Alice made a move to go off the dance floor.

"We can, but I think you'll need to stay." Lily smiled and jerked her head towards something Alice couldn't see.

"What?"

"Your knight in shining armour." Mary pretended to pass out in Lily's arms.

Alice turned and saw Frank coming towards them.

"Hi." He bit his lower lip.

"Hi." She smiled.

"Do you…do you wanna dance?"

"Yeah."

Over Frank's shoulder Alice saw the girls scatter away, giggling and whispering. She rolled her

eyes.

"What?"

"Oh…nothing." She turned her head away slightly and giggled as Mary turned and made thumbs up. "Just the girls."

"They're trying to force us together, you know?" Frank swayed her from side to side. "Our

friends."

"I know." Alice smiled.

"It's silly…isn't it."

"I guess." Alice shrugged, biting her lip, but she really didn't know what was silly and not anymore. Everything had gotten so mixed up.

Frank looked like he was going to say something, but changed his mind in the last minute. Adjusting her hands on Frank's shoulders, Alice was desperately trying to come up with something to say.

"The song is nice." She didn't know if it would have been better to stay quiet.

"They've got nice music taste." Frank nodded, his cheek tickling her forehead. "It's not as nice at

six thirty on a Saturday morning though."

Alice giggled.

"Neither is being woken by 'who stole my hairbrush?', 'I can't find my lip gloss!' and 'Has anyone seen my necklace?"

"It could be worse though."

"How?" Alice chuckled.

"They could be not nice, or like…Slytherins."

"For that we'd need to be Slytherins too," Alice pointed out.

"Right…didn't think about that."

"You're cute." Alice chuckled. She hadn't meant to say it out loud, but it slipped out before she could think about it.

"You're cute too."

Smiling, Alice continued swaying to the music.

Once the song had ended and Frank said he'd go find Arnold, Alice found Marlene and Dorcas sitting in the chairs beside the drinking table.

"We got the best spot!" Marlene exclaimed as they came closer, rising her glass in the air.

"Good job," Alice chuckled. "Where're the others?"

"Lily's dancing with some 6th year, and Mary's with Cody."

"So he finally plucked up the courage to come close to you then?" Alice asked. "Last time didn't traumatise him?"

"Pretty sure it did, he looked like he was about to shit his pants." Marlene smiled widely.

Laughing, Alice sat down in one of the other chairs.

"Lily should be back soon though, that bloke that managed to pick her up was…" Marlene wrinkled her nose and shook her head.

"-disgusting?" Dorcas suggested.

"Yeah." Marlene laughed. "Pretty much."

At that moment Lily came stumbling towards them and fell into one of the bean bags. "Thank

god," she sighed.

"Hey, where did Prince Charming go?" Marlene grinned.

"Don't remind me." Lily buried her head in her hands.

"So…bad?"

"I think I gave up after the 6th time he asked if my hair colour was natural."

"He's interested in you, that's not too bad." Marlene leaned back and sipped her drink.

"He also wondered how I could be single since I'm 'such a catch'."

Alice wrinkled her nose at the mere thought.

"I think it was somewhere around there that I tried to run for it, but that damn song wouldn't stop playing."

"Where's the twat in shining armour now?"

"I think he went to the loo, but I was a bit busy running in the opposite direction to pay close

attention." She chuckled nervously.

"Guess who did dance with Prince Charming?" Marlene made an over explicit nod in Alice's direction.

"Really?" Lily smirked.

"Thank you." Alice eyed Marlene before turning to Lily, who'd sat up straighter. "It's no big

deal."

"I must ask, when will it be a big deal? Snogging in the hallways, is that enough? Or maybe your wedding?" Marlene counted on her fingers. "The birth of your first kid?"

"Oh, shut up." Alice raised her hand to cover her smile.

"Will you look at that smile?" Marlene nudged Dorcas, not that she'd have needed to, because Dorcas was already watching. "She luuves him."

"Will someone shut her up? Before she starts making kissing noises." Alice couldn't stop herself laughing now.

"Hey, you should name your kid Marlene!"

"Seriously, what's in those drinks?" Alice asked as Marlene gulped down the last of what was in her cup.

"With those guys in charge." Lily nodded towards the drink table where three of The Marauders were standing, pouring up new drinks. "Who knows?" She shrugged, smiling.

* * *

"Did anyone see where Padfoot went off to?" James asked, pouring another drink.

"Not after they left the room." Peter took a couple ice cubes and put them into his glass.

"Well people are starting to leave, someone ought to go find him."

"They could be anywhere." Remus sipped his drink.

"Do you have the map?" Peter leaned in towards James.

"No, I didn't count on this evening including a rescue mission." James rolled his eyes. "We'll just have to look for him like people without a magical map do."

"Is this what normal people do when they wanna find someone?" James leaned back against the wall. "It's exhausting."

"We've been looking for ten minutes." Remus laughed.

"So?"

"I think he means that's not that long," Peter replied.

"Let's split up then."

"What?" Remus looked at James.

"You know, we'll find him faster then."

"That's an idea," Peter said.

"Okay so Moony, you'll go right, and Wormtail will go left."

"What will you do?"

" _I_ will go back and make sure no one takes our seats."

"You're not. You're coming with me." Peter grabbed James by the arm as he made a move back towards the Room of Requirement, the corridor split down by the painting of the fat priest. Dragging a disgruntled James with him, he started down the corridor.

Remus was about to turn left and continue down the stairs at the end of the hallway when he remembered the bathroom halfway down the corridor. He'd checked behind the tapestry opposite from the bathroom door, and he'd forgotten to actually check the bathroom.

Pushing the door open, he'd expected it to be empty. Most people were doing their best to get back to the common rooms before curfew, and the bathroom wasn't the most accessible from the Room of Requirement. But as he stepped in, he heard the tap running. Turning towards the sinks, he saw a girl running her hands under the water. She looked up.

"Lupin." She bit her lower lip.

"Hi, Annie."

"I'm Grant to you."

"What?

"You do not know me well enough to call me Annie."

"Okay…"

"So, what are you doing here?"

"Looking for Sirius. You were with him, weren't you?"

"Of course I was." She flicked her hair, looking at him like he'd seriously offended her. "But I

don't know where he is."

"Well, I'll keep looking then." He turned to leave.

"Yeah do that." He thought there was a sneer to her reply. "Maybe you'll find your decency while you're at it."

"Okay, what?" Remus stopped and turned.

"Yeah, like you thought Car wouldn't tell me."

"Caroline?" Remus felt his hands sweat.

"My sister, who's waay out of your league, asks you out. You say you'll go, but then you're rude, unpleasant and you abandon her halfway through the day. You know, if you didn't wanna go you could've just said so. It's not like she didn't have better things to do."

"I'm…sorry." He tried to be discrete about drying his hands on his robe.

"I tried to warn her, you know, 'there are much better blokes for you, no good spending your

time on those who'll end up sad and alone.' I said 'go for someone who might actually marry someday', but she insisted on going with you. I never trusted it."

"Thank you, for your enormous confidence in me."

"I was right, wasn't I?" She pulled the strap of her dress up.

"Er…"

"Err?" She repeated.

"It's complicated."

"Complicated? What kind of lame excuse is that?"

"I've gotta go."

"Yeah. Do that."

Walking towards the bathroom door as quickly as he could without running, he slammed it shut

behind him and continued on down the corridor at a faster pace. Not looking where he was going, he almost bumped into Sirius right outside the Room of Requirement.

"Merlin, Moony, are you alright?"

"Yeah sure, why wouldn't I be?"

"You're pale as a ghost." He took one of Remus' hands. "And your hands are sweating. What

happened?"

"I…I ran into Annie."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

"I was going to tell you."

"How do you even know?"

"She's fit, but she likes to complain."

"Well, at least I know it wasn't my imagination, I was horrible."

"You weren't."

"But…?"

"She's talking nonsense."

"So, you're into her for a year, then you snog her and all of a sudden she's talking nonsense?"

"What can I say?" He shrugged. "My magic doesn't work on everyone."

"Yeah, I'm not impressed."

"Fuck you."

"Padfoot, language!"

"Like you care."

"I found him." James came through the door, Peter coming behind him, and threw his arms around Sirius.

"Yeah, Prongs, I'm already on it."

"Still," James muttered. "I found him."

"Why are we standing here?" Peter asked.

"I don't know," Remus said, thankful for the distraction. "Let's go…get a drink."

"That one has got enough of it." Peter nodded towards James.

"It's not even alcohol in the drinks." Sirius frowned.

"Well then he's stoned." Peter shrugged.

"Or drunk on love," Remus suggested.

"Shut up guys. I'm normal."

"Come on Siri," Marlene whined, leaning in towards him. "I love this song."

"I said no."

"Come on 'Siri', dance with your lady." Remus grinned.

"She's not my lady, right, James?"

"Right."

"I've got some opinions about lady too, you know." Marlene looked down at him. In heels, she was as good as towering in front of him.

"Do you wanna dance?" Sirius looked at her.

"Maybe not, if you're gonna be like this." She smiled. "Maybe I'll dance with James."

"I can't dance. I'm not dancing," James protested.

"Yeah, you'll have to have Evans ask him for Prongs to get up from that chair."

"Lily, c'mere." Marlene teased, falling together in a fit of laughter as James jumped up and straightened out his robes.

"Not nice," James muttered, falling into his seat again.

"Please! I won't call you Siri," She turned back to Sirius.

"Fine."

"Thank you, _Sirius_." She grinned, taking his hand. Sirius followed her out onto the dance floor, turning to look at the rest of them in horror. James laughed heartedly, having recovered from his sulk, or because he was getting revenge, Remus didn't know.

"Why are they still here?" James nodded towards the rest of the Gryffindor girls sitting across the room. "It's past curfew."

"Maybe you're underestimating their rule-breaking ability."

"That's just mean, Evans is on me all the time about breaking school rules."

"You're breaking the rules too right now, so you're still 0 to about 2000."

James poked his tongue at Remus as he laughed.

"I'm gonna get a drink. You're just being mean."

"And you just want an excuse to be close to Evans."

James didn't reply as he got up and left.

"Do you think there is something between them?" Peter leaned in towards Remus, even though

they were the only two left, and looked towards the dance floor.

"Sirius and Marlene?" Remus hadn't thought of it before. "I don't think so. They've been friends forever."

"They'd be cute," Peter said reflectively.

"Yeah…maybe." Remus looked at them.

"What are we talking about?" James returned, balancing an over-filled cup of butterbeer in his hand.

"Nothing." Remus straightened up, taking a sip from his own drink and glancing at the pair on the dance floor as Sirius spun Marlene around and she laughed.

* * *

"That's because of me, you know." Arnold made a gesture towards Frank and Alice sitting in the corner of the room, chatting.

"It's not." Lily looked at him. "Do you know how long I've begged Alice to do something about that…situation?" She gestured towards the pair.

"Hey, who almost had their arm broken trying to push a certain someone onto the dance floor towards his damsel in distress?"

"His what?"

"It's an expression."

Lily didn't comment on it further.

"I swear though, if I have to go through one more week of this, I'll go mad. I can't keep having my arm broken."

Lily chuckled. "It's not really a problem here, is it. Pomfrey would just fix it in a minute."

"It's not fair really, we needed to go do things by hand for ten years, just because no one would tell us there was another option."

"Our music is better though."

"Oh, yeah."

"There's a reason they're not playing wizard music, and by that Celestina Warbeck-"

Arnold laughed.

"-and it's because we're just so bloody much better than any of them," she finished off, also laughing. "I've gotta go to the loo, watch my drink."

"Why?" Arnold looked around at the very scarcely populated room.

"Oh bloody hell, just do it." She stood and went towards the door.

"Lily. Hi." The sound of his voice made her stop at the spot.

"Sev." She turned. "What're you doing here?" He looked like a deer in spotlight which, she had to admit, made her better in some weird way.

"I…I was just-"

"You were just waiting here hoping to catch someone leaving after curfew so you could report

them?"

"No…I-"

"You know, I don't understand why you're always trying to get those boys into trouble. They're quite good at managing that by themselves."

"But everyone just…" he sneered. "They think they're so great."

"So? Don't let yourself sink to their level. I actually like you Sev."

"Really?"

"Yeah, we're friends remember?"

"Right."

"And I don't want to fight, because the other week was nice."

"It was."

"Well…you know. Until it wasn't."

"I'm sorry. I was going to talk to you after, but it just all got so messy, and-"

"It's fine. I could've said something too, but it's been a rough couple of weeks."

"How's that friend of yours? Melanie?"

"Marlene's fine." Lily bit her lip so as to not express her annoyance that he still didn't know the names

of her closest friends.

"She's fine."

"Good."

"It wasn't their fault, you know. They weren't trying to...you know...kill anyone." Severus fiddled with his hands.

"Seriously, Sev? People died. I don't care if they meant for it to happen or not."

"Sorry, just saying."

"Why would you even bring that up?" Lily felt her face flush and tears sting behind her eyes. "I thought we'd established where the line is."

"We never said anything."

"Well it doesn't take a genius to see that we've got very different views in some areas, so then why do we keep ending up discussing them?"

"Because you're my best friend, Lil." Severus bit his lip. "I don't wanna limit what I can talk about."

"Then maybe it's better we don't talk at all." Lily raised her hand to quickly dry away a tear that escaped from her eyes as she turned and hurried towards the bathroom.

The bathroom door opened and Marlene appeared. She was beaming and there were pearls of sweat in her hairline.

"So, you're talking to Snape again?" she said, wiping her forehead with a paper towel.

"He's my friend. You're dancing with Black again? Oh wait not again. You've never done it before. Let's talk about that."

"Don't try and change the subject." Marlene pointed her finger at Lily.

"Don't bring up Severus as the subject and I won't."

"Fair enough."

"Are you going back to the dorm soon?"

"I don't know, why?"

"Well Mary is Merlin knows where with Cody, and I'd hate to break up the lovebirds back there once they've finally started talking-"

"Oh yes. That was about time."

Lily nodded, chuckling. "-and I'm very aware that we've got an 9 o' clock class tomorrow."

"I'd forgotten that part of school," Marlene groaned. "I'll just get my bag from the room and we can go."

* * *

He sat up straight in bed, at first not knowing what had woken him. Then a flash of light appeared outside the window. James felt his heart beginning to beat faster as he trembled on the nightstand for his wand, ready to fight back the attacker. Until he realised they weren't under attack.

"Padfoot," he hissed, reaching out to poke his friend. Sirius grunted and rolled over. Stepping out of bed, James tried again, this time pulling the pillow away from under his head, still nothing.

"Bloody hell, Padfoot, wake up."

A loud bang made James think the tower was going to split in two.

"What the hell was that?" Arnold sat up, rubbing his eyes.

"It's a lightning storm."

"What did you say?" Peter's voice came from the other end of the room.

"I said, it's a lightning storm." James kicked Sirius so hard he fell off the bed.

"Oi, mate. What was that for?" He rubbed his side, disgruntled.

"The thing," James hissed at him. "It's time."

"Thing?" Sirius looked up, just as another flash of lightning lit up the dorm for a split second,

followed soon after by another thunder-strike that made the windows rattle. "Oh. The thing."

"What're you talking about?" Arnold asked.

"Nothing." James tried to find something to say. "We've just…er…gotta go get something."

"You'll get in trouble." Arnold sat up straighter. "You don't even know if it's safe."

"It's fine, we're just going down to the common room," Sirius said, saving James from coming

up with something.

"Oh, okay." Arnold lay down again and turned over on his side as James reached in under the

bed and retrieved the cloak and map from their hiding place. Meanwhile, Peter and Sirius had gotten out of bed and woken up Remus, who didn't seem too pleased with the interruption of sleep.

"What're we doing?" he mumbled, eyes still half closed as he wobbled out of bed.

"Lighting," Sirius whispered.

"Bu-"

"Quiet."

Remus nodded and closed the door behind them with minimal noise as they exited the dorm.

After hiding in a bathroom to avoid running into Filch, and taking a detour so as not to appear right outside the Slytherin common room, they found themselves outside the door of the abandoned Potions classroom.

"Who's going in first?" Remus asked.

"I don't wanna." Peter took a half step back from the door.

"I'll do it." Sirius stepped forward and turned the lock, slowly creaking the door open. The

dimly lit room looked like it had when they left it. The crystal phials in their stands, each on its own table in the middle of the room. James took a step forward, not daring to breath a sigh of relief just yet, he looked at the phials. Not until he was so close he thought he'd knock over the table, did he see the bright red colour of the liquid inside.

"It's fine," Sirius announced, looking at his own phial.

"Mine too," Peter said.

"It's not done yet though," James reminded them. He wanted to celebrate, they'd made it. But the

hard part was only beginning.

"Phial, incantation, wand." Sirius counted on his fingers across the room. "I guess we're good to

go."

"Wand…" James bit his lip. "Fuck."

"No, Prongs."

"Sorry, I forgot."

Sirius and Peter looked at him.

"I wanted to get out of there before Arnold could continue to question us."

"Well go get it, quick." Sirius ushered him out of the room, throwing the invisibility cloak on him as he did so.

All he could hear as he hurriedly moved up the stairs were his own feet echoing against the stone floor and the hard patter of rain against the windows. Rounding a corner on the 6th floor, he stopped dead. Sitting slouched on the bench halfway down the hallway was Lily. He needed to pass her to get to the common room, but he didn't know how he would manage to pass without her noticing, and if she did he would be in trouble. He took a rash decision and pulled off his cloak, not wanting to risk exposing both himself and the cloak. He sped up his pace, now just wanting to get out of there quick enough. Keeping his head down he didn't notice Lily had stood up until he ran into her side.

"Potter?"

Of all the tones he'd heard her voice in before, this wasn't like any of them. It was like she didn't even care that he was out of bed, wandering the hall at 3am.

"Yeah."

"What're you doing here?" She swallowed and when James looked up he saw her eyes were wet.

"Er…I was getting some hot chocolate."

"Storm woke you up too."

"Yeah." He fiddled with his hands. "What're you doing here, doesn't feel like the right place to

be?"

"Couldn't sleep." She dried her eyes with the sleeve of her nightgown.

"You should get some chocolate from the kitchen too, works wonders." A thunder-strike hit the

castle again and reminded James what he was doing.

"Perhaps…"

"I've gotta go, get back to sleep before that sugar kicks in, you know." He didn't want to leave her, but what choice did he have? If he didn't get back before the storm was over they'd have to wait for the next one, months or possibly years from now.

She nodded and he patted her shoulder quickly before hurrying past her and down the hall, throwing the invisibility cloak over him as he went.

"Finally, what the bloody hell took you so long?" Sirius ushered him into the room and closed the door behind him.

"I ran into Evans."

"And so it begins…" Sirius rolled his eyes. "The day our dear Prongsie choose a bird over us."

Peter and Remus nodded in agreement.

"No, guys, I actually ran into her, almost knocked her over."

"Merlin, you really can't just talk to her like a normal bloke, can you?"

"Not to interrupt this very important conversation, but we haven't got all the time in the world."

Remus nodded towards the phials on the table.

"Oh right." James pulled his wand from his pocket. "Let's do this."

He raised his wand to his chest and in unison with the other two they all spoke the incantation

"Amato animo animato animagus."

"We're supposed to drink it, right?" Peter took his phial out of the stand and looked at it.

Sirius nodded. "Every last drop."

"That shouldn't be too hard." James looked at the bare mouthful of liquid contained inside it.

"Speak for yourself." Sirius raised the hand with his phial in the air. "For a new marauders era," he announced before putting the phial to his lips and swallowing it all in one sweep. James followed his example and from the corner of his eye he saw Peter do the same.

For a moment, nothing happened and James feared it'd all gone wrong, they'd failed. Then a pain more fierce that anything he'd ever felt paralysed his body. It felt like his chest was on fire and he had to bite hard not to yell out. He heard Peter scream across the room but it didn't seem real, like he was looking at the room from above. And just as he thought the pain was subsiding his heart started beating faster, until he was forced to stumble across the room and grab the table so as not to fall to the floor. Then the second heartbeat made itself known, beating harder than the first. An overpowering urge to close his eyes came over him and as he did so he saw it. The large, magnificent stag he'd dreamed about for so long, ever since it had first appeared in his mind almost a year ago. It came running towards him and as it was about to run into him, the pain increased again and, crying out, James did his best to stay standing upright but his knees folded underneath him and he felt himself falling forward on all fours and his mind filled with a fog that prevented him from thinking straight.

* * *

Once his limbs had stopped aching and he opened his eyes, Sirius found himself looking down on two very furry legs and paws. Remus still stood leaned against the door, but his expression wasn't one of worry and concern, like it had been. He looked happier that Sirius could remember ever seeing him. A large stag was standing across the room from him, and he thought if stags could smile, it did.

Just as he had stood up (after figuring out how to navigate two more legs than he was used to) and was attempting to move, he was almost knocked over again by something. Looking over, he saw a rat running across the room and Remus starting to chase after it. Sirius followed, cornering the rat as Remus picked him up. He still flung from side to side trying to get away.

"Calm down, Wormy." Remus took a firmer grip around him. "You're fine."

Although still squirming, Peter calmed enough for Remus to look away from him.

"Hey look, you're a dog." He laughed at Sirius, who tried to poke his tongue at him, but realised

that it didn't give quite the same effect when he was a dog, so he retorted to leaping forward and pushing Remus backwards, making him stumble backwards into the tables and releasing his grip around Peter to reach out and stop himself from falling. Sirius wanted to laugh, but he found dogs apparently couldn't.

"Can you believe we just did that?" James fell down on the couch in the empty common room.

"I can't." Remus took one of the armchairs.

"It was so scary." Peter walked over and threw a log on the fire. "I thought I'd die."

"Yeah, we noticed." James let out a snort of laughter. "You almost knocked Padfoot over."

"Oh no, I'm sorry." Peter looked at Sirius.

"Don't worry. I'm more concerned that apparently dogs can't laugh." Sirius sat down on the part

of the couch James wasn't occupying.

"Stags can't either, you know." James stretched out his legs in Sirius' lap. "Or I would've."

"It's weird, isn't it?" Peter said.

"What? That stags can't laugh? I thought so too."

"No, that it's done now. We've worked towards it for so long, and now it's just gone."

"It's not gone. Last time I checked you were able to turn into a rat." Sirius laughed.

"And, you know what, I think I'll just get greater from now on." James said, leaning back against the armrest.


	10. Poker Face

**A/N: this is a bit of a short chapter, but we're getting into some _reaally_ good stuff in the next chapter. **

**Thanks to Alisa, my amazing beta reader, and to** **Azzurrolunali for her sweet comment.**

 **As usual, everything you recognize belong to J.K. Rowling**

 **Enjoy!**

 **/Liz**

* * *

"Team!" David Marrow called them back to the ground just as Marlene thought it was actually about to start snowing. Despite the layers upon layers of clothes she could still feel the goosebumps on her arms as she dove towards the ground. "Good job guys. See you tomorrow at 8." Shuddering at the mere thought of getting out of bed at 7:30 on a Saturday and not even daring to think about how cold it would be that early in the morning, Marlene headed off towards the changing rooms with the rest of the team.

"Mary." She stopped at the sight of her friend just outside the changing room door. "What're you doing here?"

"Lily's doing prefect stuff, and Alice is…somewhere." She shrugged with a chuckle. "So I thought I'd go see my friend's practise."

"Friend?"

"I don't know, seems appropriate, doesn't it?"

"I guess." It wasn't that Marlene hadn't thought about it, she just hadn't figured out if friend was really the right word. Maybe it was. "It's cold isn't it?"

"You're one to talk. I've been sitting on a cold fucking bench for an hour."

Marlene laughed and pulled Mary with her through the changing rooms and up towards the

castle.

"What're you doing?" Mary stumbled on an uneven patch of grass and almost fell.

"It's freezing, I wanna get back to the castle."

"Then maybe stop trying to kill your mate, and it'll work better." Someone came up behind them.

"Hi, Black."

"Are you last naming me, McKinnon. I thought we'd come farther than that."

Marlene rolled her eyes and threw her arm around him.

"Where's James?"

"Talking to that effing captain of ours. He wants to put in another practise."

"Is he serious? The match is a week away, what if someone gets hurt?"

"Yeah, try telling the two of them that." Sirius rolled his eyes. "You don't need any more practise

though, you were amazing out there."

"Please."

"No, I mean it. You were almost better than James," Sirius chuckled. "Don't tell him that

though."

"You're impossible." Marlene rolled her eyes.

"You still love me though."

"Obviously."

By the time they reached the castle doors, snowflakes had started falling from the overcast sky above and as the wooden doors slammed shut behind them Marlene had to brush the snow away from her Quidditch sweater.

"Have you eaten?" she asked Sirius, making a gesture towards the doors into the Great Hall.

"Yeah, right before practice. Anyways, I said I'd meet up with Remus. I'll see you at that practice James has gotten us into." He grimaced.

Marlene laughed as Sirius raised a hand in goodbye as he went off for the stairs up to the first floor.

"So, dinner?" She turned to Mary once Sirius had disappeared at the top of the stairs.

"What the bloody hell was that?"

Marlene couldn't make out what Mary meant with it and it put her off.

"Sorry?"

"The flirting?"

"What?"

"Come on, it was so obvious."

"I was asking about dinner, not some kind of life coaching."

Mary rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh. "Sure, let's eat."

Thankful, Marlene led the way into the Great Hall.

"I just don't get it." Mary caught up with her.

"What?" It was starting to get on her nerves, but she tried her best to not let it show.

"You obviously like him."

"Who?"

"Stop it, you're just making yourself sound dumb."

"Oh right, I forgot you had exclusive rights on that."

"You're being mean."

"I'm hungry." Marlene sped up her pace.

"I'm just saying. It's doesn't take a fucking genius to see."

"And we're back at that again?" Marlene found a seat halfway down the Gryffindor table and started slopping mashed potatoes onto her plate before Mary had even sat down opposite her.

"We are, since you obviously doesn't wanna talk about it."

"And that gives you the right to pressure me for information?"

"It gives me the right, as your friend, to know that you're hiding something."

"I liked it a damn lot better when we weren't friends." Marlene muttered into her plate as she

picked at her food with her fork.

"You don't mean that." Mary sounded genuinely upset.

"No, I don't." Marlene admitted, looking up.

"What're we talking about?" Lily plopped down next to Mary at the bench. "Oh. What's going on?" she added, her gaze travelling from Mary's tight lips to Marlene's absent stare.

"Nothing," Marlene said quickly. "Where's Alice?"

"She's studying."

"Isn't she eating?"

"Her and Frank are taking something to eat afterwards."

"Wait, she's with Frank?" Mary looked up.

Lily nodded.

"Will they just get over themselves and snog already?" She leaned over the table and pulled a

plate of chicken closer to her.

"They're not even going out, they're just friends."

"Friends my arse." Marlene muttered into her goblet.

"Seriously, Lils, how are you not more involved in this?"

"They'll work it out themselves."

"They'll hurt each other doing so."

"That's true. They're both capable of breaking the other's heart."

"If he breaks Alice's heart, I'll kill him." Marlene put her goblet down on the table so hard some

of the pumpkin juice spilled.

"Have you seen the bloke, Marls?" Lily said. "He wouldn't break her heart if his life depended

on it."

"They're going to Hogsmeade together though, right?"

"Dunno." Marlene grabbed a napkin and wiped her hand clean of pumpkin juice.

"Are you still going with Cody?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Just, haven't seen a lot of him lately."

"Marls, who's your knight in shining armour? Black?" Mary smiled.

"I've told you, that was a one time thing, as friends."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Actually, I think I'll just go by myself," marlene continued.

"That's just sad," Mary said.

"Hey!" Lily straightened up.

"Well you could get any bloke you wanted, so that doesn't count."

"Have you ever been to Hogsmeade without a date, Mary?" Marlene knew Mary wanted her to feel like she pitied her, but Marlene knew she was talking out of her ass.

"I have."

"When?" challenged Marlene.

"In…third year."

"Wow."

"What?"

"That's what's sad, you know."

* * *

The sun was shining properly, for the first time in weeks, when they got out of bed that Sunday.

"Alice, are you coming with us today?" Lily asked, tying her hair up.

"Yeah."

"Aren't you going with Frank?" Marlene asked.

"No?" Alice frowned.

"What happened?"

"Nothing," Alice sighed. "We're not even dating."

"Mhm." Mary smiled, reaching for her hairbrush.

"I know what you're implying."

"I wasn't trying to hide it."

Marlene laughed into her hand but stopped when Alice glanced at her.

"Amelia, Elizabeth, what're you doing?" Lily turned away from them. It wasn't that she didn't want to take the conflict; it'd been fine the first time, and the second, but now that they were appearing nearly daily, she was losing interest in the topic.

"I'm going with Jack." Amelia smiled.

"Cooper?" Marlene turned too, looking at her teammate.

Amelia nodded. "He asked me out last night after practise."

"Omg, Amelia, I'm so happy for you." Lily thought Marlene might have rushed over and hugged her, if she'd been more of the hugging type. "It was about time."

Amelia smiled a bit self-consciously.

"You'd think you wouldn't have to snog a bloke for him to ask you out." Elizabeth said.

"What?" Marlene looked from Amelia to Elizabeth. "You snogged him already?"

Lily wasn't really following the conversation. She knew who Jack Cooper was, of course, but he'd always been a quiet bloke and she'd barely payed attention to him on the Quidditch pitch, much less off it.

"Well…it was Black's birthday."

"Oh, right. You were taking forever in the bloody locker room."

"Oh well…" Amelia chuckled.

"Still, that was a month ago, he took his time to ask you out."

"He's shy." She shrugged.

"What're you doing then, Elizabeth?" Lily turned to the blond girl.

"Probably watching those two suck face."

"Sod off." Amelia pushed her friend sideways.

"Why don't you come with us then?"

"Really?"

"We're gonna be a crooked group anyways. Me, Marlene, Alice, Frank-"

Alice coughed.

"-oh you know he's gonna end up with us anyways; then there's Arnold, Dorcas-"

"Potter." Marlene nudged Lily's side.

"Black." Lily retorted.

"As much as I'd love to see how this plays out." Mary walked towards the coat-stand and

unhooked her winter coat. "I'm going to meet Cody. I'll see you guys later."

* * *

They were passing by the Three Broomsticks. Cody had suggested they go in, but Mary said she'd prefer to just walk the streets. Now, ten minutes later, she couldn't remember why. Her fingers were frozen and the cold air had found its way through her coat. Still, it was a nice morning. The sun was shining over them and even though the main street was emptier than it used to be, most students having fled the cold, there were still students roaming it, looking at the holiday decorating in the shop's display windows.

"Are you alright?" Cody asked.

"Yeah." She squeezed his hand, absentmindedly looking through the Honeydukes window.

He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. It used to feel nicer. It used to send chills down her

spine. Now, all she could think about was Lily, Alice and Marlene sitting in a corner booth at the

Three Broomsticks, sipping butterbeer, laughing and talking.

"Listen, Cody." She pulled away.

"What's wrong?"

"I need to go."

"What? Why?"

"It's just…I think I need to spend some time with my friends."

"But we decided…"

"I know…sorry."

"You've been spending a lot of time with your friends lately."

"They're my friends."

"I'm your boyfriend." He leaned in to kiss her but she took a small step backwards.

"Marlene's mum passed away. She needs us."

"I thought you couldn't stand her."

"Maybe I changed my mind."

"What? Just because her mum died?"

Mary hesitated. That had been what brought them together in the first place, but that wasn't why

they'd become friends, right? It couldn't be.

"No…"

"Then why?"

"It's personal."

"There's been a lot of 'personal' stuff lately."

"I have a life outside of being your girlfriend." Mary hadn't realised she was raising her voice

until she was screaming. She could feel heads turn towards her.

"Then maybe I shouldn't be your boyfriend." Cody's voice was raised too, almost as much as

hers.

"Fine."

"Fine."

Mary started in the other direction, walking back towards the Three Broomsticks. She didn't want him to call after her, she didn't want him to come up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder, she'd never really liked him in the first place and right now she just wanted him to disappear. Still, the romantic in her wanted him to come after her, to sweep her off her feet and kiss her. She wasn't a romantic, but she still hoped for a fairytale ending. It didn't really matter what guy it was, just that it was a guy. Now she was alone again, she didn't like the feeling of that.

The bell above the door of the Three Broomsticks went off and she was hit by a barrier of noise. Happy talking, glasses hitting tables and, somewhere in a corner, someone singing an old Muggle song.

"Mary! What're you doing here?" Lily made room for her on the bench. "Where's Cody?"

"We broke up."

"Oh no…why?"

"He was a tosser."

"That's what I always said." Marlene looked up from across the table.

Mary raised her eyebrows.

"Okay well, not always, but you know."

Mary laughed, nodding.

"I'm going to get a butterbeer." She stood up.

"I'll come with you." Lily followed her.

"What really happened?" She asked, leaning against the bar while Mary handed Madam Rosmerta money for her drink.

"Nothing happened. It just wasn't right."

"Okay." Lily still looked doubtful, but let it go.

"What's happening here?"

"Oh…some of this, some of that."

"Frank's here."

"What did you expect?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"So are the Marauders."

"Don't remind me." She rubbed her temples. "Black was saying something to Marls, and all of a sudden they were sitting around the table, ordering butterbeer for the lot of us."

Mary chuckled before stopping and looking up at Lily.

"Black and Marls, I'm not crazy right? There is something going on there."

"Yeah, I s'ppose there is." She smiled vaguely.

"You know something." Mary took the drink Rosmerta handed her and pointed it at Lily. "Tell me what you know."

"Nope."

"Pleaseeee," Mary asked. "I'll buy you butterbeer."

"I won't tell you."

Lily turned and started walking towards the table.

"Fine," Mary mumbled, adjusted the strap of her shoulder bag and following Lily.

* * *

" _Potter takes the quaffle, pass to McKinnon, the latest addition to the Gryffindor team, only time will tell if she's got what it takes…"_ the voice of Bertha Jorkins echoed across the pitch. James leaned forward, flying up beside Marlene. She dodged a bludger and continued seamlessly towards the Hufflepuff goal posts, her lips pressed tight together in. In concentration or fear,

James didn't know.

" _Gryffindor scores!"_

The stadium echoed with cheers from the Gryffindor crowds. Marlene turned around and smiled

brightly.

"Good job." James mouthed at her.

He hadn't noticed the game had started again until Sirius passed by right beside his ear, James didn't hear his warning until it was too late. The bludger hit the back of his head with a thud and

James yelped out in pain. The last thing he saw before passing out was Sirius forcefully hitting the bludger back towards one of the Hufflepuff beaters.

"It was my fault," someone said, sitting at the end of his bed.

"Don't be silly."

"It was, he was turned around to talk to me."

"I could've knocked it away. I had one job, keep the bludger off you guys, and I failed."

"He'll be fine though."

"Of course he will. He's survived worse."

Right now it didn't feel like it. James' head was throbbing violently. It wasn't the first time he'd been knocked out by a bludger, and probably not the last either, but every time it felt like the pain was new. He peeked his eyes open. The sun was still shining through the hospital wing Windows, so he couldn't have been out for that long.

"James?" Marlene stood up from her place by his feet.

"Are you okay mate?"

"Did we win?"

Marlene got something dark in her eyes, so James could guess.

"The Hufflepuff seeker caught the snitch just after you were knocked out, Shiller lost her focus

and didn't notice it."

"They're not blaming her, are they?" James couldn't imagine the third year seeker getting punished for something that, in one way, had been his fault.

"I think she's doing enough of that herself." Marlene fidgeted with the hem of her quidditch robe. "But she's a fighter."

"Kinda like our friend Marls here." Sirius gestured towards her

"Right. You were amazing out there!" James tried to sit up, but Madam Pomfrey hurried over and

stopped him. James had no idea how, because he hadn't thought she'd been in the room.

"Potter, you need rest."

"Please ma'am, I've rested all the other times I've been knocked out. Can't I just go."

"If you break your leg once, does it not need mending again when you break it a second time?"

"Yes…but-"

"You're staying in bed until I deem it safe for you to leave, Potter." She trotted away and into her office again.

"Well, Potter." Sirius smiled triumphantly as he stood up. "Looks like we need to leave for you to get your rest."

"No, guys!"

Marlene started following Sirius out of the room, smiling at James' dramatic calls for them to come back. Then the door closed and he was left alone as Madam Pomfrey hurried out of her office again and put down a cup with the opaque liquid potion that relieved headache. He took it without hesitation: his head was still throbbing wildly.

* * *

"Merry Christmas." Someone came up behind Peter as he was leaving the Great Hall. He turned to see Patrick standing there, arm outstretched and with a packed trunk behind him.

"Er…Merry Christmas." Peter shook the outstretched hand. Their failed hour of tutoring were still fresh in Peter's mind, though it had been months ago.

"I'm leaving tonight, mum and I are going to Bulgaria, so I won't be here for the end of term feast. But I wanted to say goodbye."

Peter was still very confused. He hadn't talked to Patrick since their tutoring, and that hadn't really ended on the terms where you wish each other happy holidays.

"Oh, have fun."

"I think it will be."

"Good."

"Well, I better be going." He picked up his trunk and started dragging it behind him towards the

exit.

"Wait." It was a spur of the moment thing, Peter had no idea why he did it. "Let me help you."

He hurried up alongside the other boy and grabbed the other handle of the trunk, helping him lift it out through the front door and into the Thestral dragged carriages.

"Merry Christmas," Patrick called after him again as the carriage disappeared down the road.

Peter didn't know what to do. He'd been planning on going up to the library to finish off some last minute class work but he didn't feel like it anymore. Instead, he found himself roaming the halls outside the hospital wing, not sure if he was going in. He didn't normally share these kinds of things with the guys, he wasn't even sure if he'd told them about Patrick in the first place, but his head was spinning. Also, James had been complaining about how bored he was every time they'd come by to visit. Taking a decisive breath, he flung the door to the hospital wing open.

"Wormtail!" James exclaimed. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"

Madam Pomfrey hushed him and James sent a charming smile her way as Peter pulled up a

chair to his bed and sat down.

"I didn't have anything to do, and I thought you might be bored…"

"Out of my bloody mind."

"So I decided I'd come visit."

"Okay, that's just talking crap." James leaned over and took a cup from his nightstand. "What's really going on?"

"Okay…well." Peter didn't know where he was supposed to start. How did you talk about these kind of things? "Did I tell you about Patrick?"

"Don't think so."

"Well, I had a tutoring with him." Peter stopped for a moment. He still didn't like talking about his tutoring with the other guys. They'd never even been close to needing it and the fact that he did made him feel he was so much less than the rest of them. "Back in October. It didn't go too well."

"Wormy, I'm sorry."

"I haven't talked to him since, we didn't really end on good terms."

"And?"

"And when I was leaving lunch, he came up to me, and wished me Merry Christmas."

"That's weird. And you don't know him?"

"No."

"He's not one of your relatives, is he?"

"I don't think so…" Peter searched his mind for any kids at his mum's family gatherings, but

he'd always been the only one. That's why he'd always wandered off to the back of the garden where his uncles had been drinking firewhiskey. "When I saw him the first time, I thought I recognised him, but I don't."

"And you're sure he's not a relative?"

"I might ask mum about it."

"Yeah, do that."

James swallowed down the potion in the cup.

"How're you doing?"

"Oh come on, I'm fine."

"You were knocked unconscious."

"I'm always knocked unconscious."

"It's still scary you know." Peter straightened out the duvet. "You fell off the broom."

"Sirius picked me up."

"What if one time he doesn't? You're the one that keeps us together, James."

"Nonsense. We're a group."

"Of course but…" Peter sighed, not sure how he was supposed to say it. "You're the only normal one of the lot."

"What do you mean?"

"Remus has his 'little furry problem', Sirius is so…broken. He just won't admit it. And I'm not a leader, I'm too stupid."

"I think you're smarter than you give yourself credit for."

Peter smiled, but he still couldn't really believe it.

"Potter. I said no visitors."

"Oh fuck." James buried his face in the covers.

Madam Pomfrey came hurrying across the room.

"Sorry ma'am, I was just leaving a book for James." Peter stood up.

"Well then. Now get out of here." She waved him towards the door.

* * *

"Prongs!" Sirius exclaimed when James climbed through the portrait hole. "Thank Merlin."

Sirius hadn't been worried about him, at least not more worried than you usually are when your best friend is knocked unconscious and in the hospital wing, but James' entrance had broken the tense barrier in the room. It wasn't that it was tense, just that no one had talked for so long it felt wrong to do it without any real reason.

They were sitting around the fireplace. Sirius didn't know how it'd happened and thought that it was probably the first time all of the Gryffindor 5th years had been in the same place by choice in a very long time. It was a cold night though, and the dorms had been nearly uninhabitable because of it. Sirius, Remus and Peter had managed to get hold of the armchairs in front of the fireplace and as the common room emptied Marlene, Lily, Mary, Alice, Frank, Arnold and finally

Amelia and Elizabeth had joined them.

"Come on guys. It's our last night here. Let's do something." Sirius sat up straighter in his chair.

"Well…" Elizabeth looked up hesitantly "We could like…play a game?"

"What about poker?" Lily smiled.

"Poker?" Frank asked.

"It's a Muggle card game…hold on." Lily stood. "I'll go fetch my deck."

She returned ten minutes later, carrying a deck of cards as well as a thick woollen blanket she wrapped herself in.

"That's not fair," Marlene protested. "Why do you get a blanket?"

"If you go up to the dorm, you can get a blanket too." Lily told her before she started to explain the rules.

Sirius had always fancied himself quite good at understanding games but now he was sitting with

the cards in hand he had virtually no idea what to do with them.

"Don't you usually bet on stuff?" Mary asked. "Grandpa and dad used to play at Christmas."

"Yeah, but we don't have anything." Lily shrugged.

"We could play strip poker." Sirius grinned.

"Black!" Lily exclaimed.

"What?" Sirius held up his hands in front of him. "It was Prongs' idea! He'd love to see you

topless."

He didn't know if James or Lily looked more horrified and he didn't get a second look before he

had to duck quickly when James made an attempt to hit him over the head.

"Okay so…" Lily took a breath and continued from where she'd been cut off, not looking too bother bothered about what had just happened. James, on the other hand, had gone very red and was fidgeting with his glasses. "Mary, you start."

"I hate this stupid game." Sirius muttered as he lost the third hand in a row.

"Oh poor Siri." Marlene smiled at him from her place on the floor.

"Shut up, you've won every single time."

"Hey, not fair." Amelia protested. "I've won too."

"And I've won nothing. This is just great." He leaned back and watched as Marlene won yet another hand. She jumped up, almost knocking the table over and danced around in circles. Her hair was bouncing up and down with her and her eyes were glowing. She grabbed Lily and Mary by the hand and dragged them up to join her.

Sirius smiled, telling himself he'd be just as happy for any of his friends being happy.

"You think you're lucky now, don't you?" He leaned over the back of his chair to talk to her.

"This had nothing to do with luck, it's pure talent."

"You've never played before in your life."

"What can I say?"

"Beginner's luck. That's what you'll say."

"Marls, are you playing another round?" James asked, shuffling the cards.

"Obviously." Marlene sat down again, her whole face smiling.

"I'm in too." Sirius leaned forward.

"Evans?"

"I'm in."

"I'm not." Alice leaned back, yawning. "If I fall asleep, wake me up before you go to bed. I don't want a bunch of first years to find me here tomorrow."

"Are you okay sitting on the floor?" Frank asked, moving on the sofa to make room so Alice

could sit next to him.

"Thanks." Alice cuddled up in the corner Frank had left free and rested her head against the back of the sofa.

* * *

Sirius threw his cards down on the table. "I fucking give up."

"Let's play something else then." Marlene smiled at him. "Like…crazy eights."

"Game on." Sirius leaned over the table.

"Does anyone else get to play or…?" Lily asked.

"If you wanna play with those two, go ahead." Remus said, leaning back against the sofa. Lily laughed and, she too, leaned back.

"Looks like it's just the two of us, McKinnon."

"Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Does it look like I couldn't."

"You did cry," James said.

"Shut up, James, got something in my eye." Sirius shook the hair away from his face and ran his hand through it. Not in the way James did when he was nervous, whenever Lily was around,

Sirius did it like it was a matter of course and it wouldn't even occur to you that there was anything weird with it.

"Let's do this." Marlene dealt the cards between them, one eye on her own cards and one on Sirius.

"You fucking bitch you totally cheated!" Marlene threw her cards at Sirius and, throwing herself over the table she grabbed at his shirt. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her down. She wasn't much shorter than him, but enough that he had the upper hand. He was holding her against him as she grabbed for his hair and pulled it out of order.

"Calm down, Marls."

"Don't you tell me what to do!" She fought to get free. "You cheated."

"You lost." Sirius smirked.

"Guys." Lily hushed at them and nodded towards Alice, who was snoring. Not loudly, just

enough that it was audible. She was still curled up on the couch but her head had fallen down and was resting on Frank's shoulder.

Marlene stopped fighting and Sirius let go of her. She slid down next to him in the armchair.

"Isn't that cute?" Mary said quietly.

Lily held up her hands in a heart and started swaying them back and forth.

"Do you think she knows?" Mary whispered, leaning towards Lily.

"How could she? She's sleeping," Lily replied.

Marlene sat quiet and watched as Alice's chest rose and sunk with each breath. She looked to

Frank; he was sitting with his eyes closed but she saw how they opened as James stood up,

making Marlene think he wasn't sleeping.

"They're cute," Sirius whispered. His breath tickled her ear.

She nodded.

"Are you tired?"

Slowly, she nodded again. She hadn't noticed until he asked her, but now all she could think about was how much she'd like to just close her eyes and go to sleep right now. She didn't know what time it was, but it must be long past midnight. The half-moon was high in the sky, surrounded by a clear sky lit up by a million stars. He stroked her hair slowly and she didn't even notice when she fell asleep.

* * *

"Lily." James called after her just as she was about to pass through the barrier accompanied by her mum and, to James' dismay, Snape. She turned. She wasn't smiling, but her face wasn't twisted in that scowl he was used to seeing when he interrupted her in something. "Come here."

He doubted she would.

Looking from him, to Snape, to her mother and back to him, she leaned over to say something to her mum before starting through the crowd towards him.

"What?" Her arms were crossed, but she still didn't look angry.

"My family's having a New Year's party…on New Year's eve." God he hadn't thought this through.

His mind had gone foggy and he knew he sounded like an idiot.

"Surprise." Lily almost cracked a smile as she said it, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Well, everyone's gonna be there. Marls, Alice, Sirius, Remus, Peter, so you could come by, if you feel like it." He tried his best to sound like it was no big deal, like he hadn't thought it through carefully all morning.

"Yeah, maybe."

"I mean, mum could come by and bring you along with Apparition. So you don't need to take the train."

"That's alright, I could take the bus." She looked up and pulled a strand of red hair from her face.

James frowned.

"The knight bus."

"Oh." He laughed. "You can take that? I get travel sick." Right. That was a nice conversation topic.

"I'll see. Severus' dad isn't around much, so he might be with us for New Year's."

"Okay, I mean, that's fine." There wasn't any use remarking anything about Snape, unless he wanted to cause a big scene. And considering Lily had almost smiled at him, he wasn't about to do that.

Lily chuckled and looked down at her shoes. "I'll try to come. It'd be fun to see what spectacular things the famous Potter can come up with."

"Oh it's nothing special." James smiled.

"I doubt it."

"Maybe it's a little spectacular."

"Don't blow anything up." She turned and started towards her mum again, before turning. "Oh, god, it's part of the thing, isn't it. You're gonna blow the house up." She laughed, for real this time. It sent butterflies up James' throat.

"You never know." He smirked.

She laughed and walked towards the exit and grabbed at the trolley Snape had been holding for

her. They went through the barrier together. It was just his imagination, he knew that, but he thought she didn't look as happy as she'd done when she left him.

* * *

"She said she'd try to come, Prongs, you're acting like she threw herself in your arms and promised to love you forever."

"When did you become such a romantic, Padfoot?"

"I'm not, you are." Sirius grabbed James' arm and dragged him along down the platform.

"Aren't you forgetting someone?"

Sirius stopped and turned to James, furrowing his brows.

"Your brother?"

"Fucking hell, he's 14, can't he travel home alone?"

"Language." Mrs. Potter came up behind them.

"Mia. Do I have to go home?" He turned to her.

"Sirius, if it was up to me, you'd already be living with us, but your mother wants to have you home for Christmas." She sighed and Sirius knew she knew the same as him. His mother didn't want him home, she just wanted to uphold the image of a happy family as long as possible.

When Andromeda had left with her fiance it'd been a tragedy, her parents had been blamed by the whole family. His mother didn't want to be accused of the same, of raising a Muggle lover under her roof. So, as long as Sirius kept a low profile at the family dinners, he'd be forced home for them, but if he put up a fight, he'd be taken care of by his cousins.

"I'll see you boxing day, or however long I can withstand in that house." He grabbed a trolley and lifted his trunk onto it.

Mrs. Potter pulled him into a warm hug. Even wearing Heels, she was almost a head shorter than him and as so her arms closed around his waist.

"You've grown again," she whispered to him.

"It's been known to happen," he replied, hugging her back. His mother hadn't ever hugged him, or Regulus, even before they started Hogwarts. She hadn't been the nurturing type. It was nice being hugged by Mrs. Potter then, and for the first time in a long time he felt bad for his little brother. He didn't imagine Regulus friends parents were the type that hugged their own kids, let alone him.

"Take care of yourself." She ruffled his hair.

He nodded and set off towards the end of the platform in search of his brother.

Regulus leaned on a pillar, surrounded by the usual group of Slytherins. He was laughing at something Mulciber had just said. Sirius couldn't help shuddering, he saw so much of himself in his little brother, it was frightening.

"Reg." He took a step forward. "We're going."

"I'm coming home with Wilkes."

"Mother wants both of us home." He grabbed at his brother's arm.

He pulled away. "Stop it, I'm not a baby."

"We need to go," Sirius repeated.

"Fine." Regulus sighed dramatically. "I'll see you later."

There were two miles to walk from the train station to Grimmauld Place, but Sirius denied

Regulus' request to use the bus. The longer he could prolong the moment before he needed to step through the door of the house that hadn't felt like a home in five years, the better.

"They're family, you know." Regulus broke the silence as they walked up the pavement, dragging their trunks behind them.

"What?"

"My friends. They're our family."

"So is James."

"You're joking? The Potters were removed from the sacred twenty-eight. They're no more

Purebloods than those other morons you hang around with."

Sirius didn't reply. He closed his fists tighter. He wanted to punch him, you shouldn't want to punch your little brother, but right there he wanted to do it so badly. He continued up the street, ignoring the way his heart sped up the closer they got to Grimmauld Place.

* * *

"Who was it you were talking to on the platform, honey?" Her mum drove the car down the country road with one hand on the steering wheel, one outside the window holding her cigarette.

"That was James."

"Potter?"

"Yeah."

"He looked nice. He's very handsome."

"Mum…" Lily looked out the window, pretending she didn't hear as her mum went on to tell them about the boyfriend she'd had when she was fifteen. Her parents seemed to have been together forever. They hadn't of course, really they hadn't gotten married until after her mum had gotten pregnant with Petunia, but to Lily it felt like that, and the thought of her mum being her age was something she wasn't ready to hear about yet.

"I know you're saying he's a bugger." Her mum took a drag at the cigarette. "But people change, you know."

Lily nodded absentmindedly.

"Severus, did you have a nice term?" Her mum turned around to look at Severus who'd been sitting quietly in the backseat since they left London.

Lily wasn't sure what he was going to answer. Her mum had been like an extra parent to him since they were nine, how was he going to tell her that most of his term had been spent hanging around with people who'd want to kill her and her daughter if they got the chance?

"Yes, very nice." He'd always been more polite towards her mum than any other adult.

"Potions still going good?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Now potions…that's like chemistry, right?"

"Kinda," Lily replied, saving Severus who looked very confused. "And cooking."

"And you're good at it too, honey?"

"I know, can't cook, excellent in potions, the irony is clear." She rolled her eyes.

The car passed the Cokeworth sign and the landscape opened as they drove up the hill, displaying the rolling hills behind the houses crammed together so tightly Lily had always thought it must be magic.

Severus hesitated before he got out of the car in front of his house. He looked so much smaller here than he ever did at Hogwarts, and Lily's heart ached for him the same way it did for the scared first years that missed home. She'd been told she was too nice, multiple times, and maybe she was. But when someone needed her help she couldn't just ignore them. The car door closed and before she could turn around to say goodbye, Severus was gone.

* * *

Her dad. Her dad. Her dad had picked them up from the train. As they made their way through central London towards the Leaky cauldron that was all she could think about. Her dad wasn't supposed to pick them up. He'd been late, of course, he wasn't used to having to pick them up.

Her mum used to do that. Her legs started shaking just at the thought of it. She'd managed not to think about it for so long so when she did, it felt like her whole world fell apart again.

"Come on sweetie." Her dad turned.

She nodded and bent down, pretending to fix something with her trunk so no one would see the tears forming in her eyes. She couldn't cry, that was silly. It'd happened weeks ago, she couldn't cry now.

"Marls, are you ok?" Will had stopped and was looking at her.

"Yeah." She swallowed. "I'm fine."

There was a lump in her throat as she stood up and continued walking.

They stepped through the door at the Leaky Cauldron; it was almost empty, apart from a group of

aged wizards sitting in a booth at the far back.

"Alfred. Hello." Tom the bartender lifted his hand. "Here for lunch?"

"Not today, Tom, I'm just taking the kids through today."

They way he said it, it sounded like they weren't his kids, he was just taking them back to where they belonged. Marlene wasn't sure where that was anymore.

The living room looked like it had done when they left the last time, it was like no one had been in there for weeks. Marlene thought that might be true; her aunt had left right after the funeral and she doubted her dad had left his room much.

She didn't bother taking her trunk up to her room. Leaving it on the living room carpet, she started wandering the house. It was where she'd grown up, she'd fallen down those stairs and scraped her knee, she'd learnt to bike in that back garden, it was on that chair in that kitchen that she'd been standing as her mum prepared Christmas dinner; still it felt like she was walking through a stranger's home, intruding on their personal space. She passed by the door to her mum's office. She couldn't open it. Her mum had always been sitting there, working, when she got home from the Potters'.

The Potters. Maybe that's where she would feel at home.

But she couldn't leave now. Her siblings needed her. Her dad needed her. Who would make sure there was dinner if she ran off?

She was still standing outside the office door, staring at it, when someone placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I miss her too," Mike whispered.

"I can't believe she's gone." The lump rose in her throat.

"We need to be strong," Mike said. "For dad, and Mickey and Ellie."

Marlene nodded. She knew her voice would break if she tried to use it.

"Aunt Edna made us dinner, it's in the fridge." He rubbed her shoulder. "Now go unpack."

He ushered her away from the office door; she was thankful, she didn't think she'd have been able to leave on her own. She grabbed her trunk off the living room floor and started up the stairs where she'd fallen and scraped her knee. Now as she went up, she would've gladly scraped both knees and an elbow to make the pain in her chest go away.


	11. Blue Moon

**A/N: Here's Christmas for you!**

 **Thanks to** ** _Azzurrolunali_ and _Miggie_ for your nice reviews, also thanks to my friends on tumblr who helped me fangirl over James in this chapter and, as always, my wonderful beta-reader _Alisa_ (aka Marauderina) without who I wouldn't be able to publish as great material as I do (and also whose coments make me smile and laugh)**

 **Well, I'll let you get onto it, here's the very ( _very_ ) long chapter 11**

* * *

Her arms were itching. The duvet, that she'd always loved, seemed too heavy and the shadows on the wall were terrifying monsters. She hadn't been able to sleep for days, lying awake until the early hours when she, maybe, could get an hour or two of sleep.

The memories of the house haunted her. She thought she heard her mum's footsteps outside her bedroom as she got home from work. Imagined she'd open the door at any moment to make sure she was asleep. Every time she closed her eyes it felt like the darkness was pressing onto her. Now, as the moon rose in the sky and she knew it was at least past midnight, she got out of bed and wrapped her robe around her. Careful not to wake Will or Mickey in the next rooms, she went over to the window and unlocked it. There was a small roof right below her window, she could easily get down from there. She and James used to do it for a laugh all the time when they were little.

Her barefoot feet touched at the dewy grass and the moonlight created a clear enough light for her to see where she was going. Across the stone path under the oak trees, until the large house came into view.

"Marlene…you must be freezing!" Mrs. Potter opened the door and ushered her in as quickly as possible, calling for Mr. Potter to get her a blanket.

"What are you doing here?" Mr. Potter asked as he came out of the sitting room. He wasn't judgemental, just worried. "It's so late. Is everything alright?"

"Yes, everyone's…fine." Mrs. Potter swept a blanket around her shoulders. "I just…needed to get out of the house. I didn't know where to go."

"Of course." Euphemia nodded. "I know it's hard."

"Do you need something to eat? I could call on Tippy to whip something up."

"It's okay, thank you, Mr. Potter."

She saw him flinch at the use of his last name. He didn't like being addressed formally, Marlene knew that. When they were little, he'd told them very firmly that even though other grown-ups called him Mr. Potter, they should always call him Mr. Bear. It wasn't a bad nickname, she had to admit, because with his heavy build, and beard, he did resemble a teddy bear. Now, however, he asked everyone to call him Monty, despising the name Fleamont so much he wished it would die before he did.

"Come on, sweetie." Mrs. Potter put a hand on her back. "You can sleep in the guest room tonight."

"Thanks." Marlene wrapped the blanket around her. They were still standing in the Potter's large entrance hall and cold air was sneaking in from under the door.

"Mia." Marlene was tucked into the large double bed in the first floor guest room and already feeling more at ease than she'd done in weeks.

"Yes?" Mrs. Potter stopped in the doorway.

"Will you not tell my dad I'm here? He has enough to deal with without worrying about me."

"Don't you think he'll notice when you're gone?" She came back and sat down at her bedside.

"I'll sneak back home tomorrow before they wake up. It's fine."

"Okay, sweetie, if you say so." Mrs. Potter kissed her forehead and turned off the lights. "Sleep

tight."

* * *

When she'd stepped inside the door, she felt like a kid again. The whole house smelled like Christmas, from the cookies in the oven to the tree in the living room corner, everything was just as it used to be. Then Petunia came out of the living room. Lily hadn't expected a warm welcome, but what'd happened was more than she'd expected, even after the years of abuse and insults.

"Didn't you get my letter?" she sneered.

"No."

"Petunia…" her mum begged.

"I told you not to come. We don't need you here."

. Petunia's words still echoed in her mind as she rushed out of the house.

She walked down the street towards the lake, putting her hands in the pockets of the jacket she'd thrown on in her rush to get out. There was something hard in one of them. She pulled it out to discover it was a cigarette pack. The brand her mum smoked. Searching through the other pocket, she found the lighter. She'd seen her mum light up cigarettes every day since before she could remember. In the car, while cooking, when watching TV, but it'd never occurred to her to use them herself. Now it seemed very tempting. One time, when she was seven or eight, she'd asked her mum why she smoked, because they'd been told in school it was bad for you.

"It's relaxing," her mum had answered. "Makes all the bad thoughts go 'poof'."

Lily needed all the bad thoughts to go poof. Slowly opening the pack and pulling out a cigarette,

she rolled it between her fingers and bit her lip in concentration as she lit it.

She breathed out, smoke forming and drifting away in the chill night air.

Her mum was right, it was calming. It gave her something else to think about.

In

…

Out

…

In

…

Out

…

"Lily. There you are."

Quickly, Lily threw the cigarette on the ground and put it out with her foot, hoping her mum wouldn't notice. Of course, her mum had smoked since she was sixteen, so she knew all too well every movement that went into it.

"I'm sorry. I stopped her from sending it." Her mum sat down next to her on the bench. "I never imagined she'd come at you like that."

"What does it matter. You can't stop her from hating me."

"I wish I could honey. I wish you'd be as close as you used to be."

"That just won't happen though." Lily looked down at her feet, at the mashed cigarette next to her left shoe.

"Is that my coat?" Her mum touched at it.

"Sorry, I didn't see whose it was when I grabbed it."

"It's okay." Her eyes fell on the lighter still in her hand.

"Did you smoke?"

Lily looked at the ground.

"Lily?"

"Sorry."

"I'm…"

"Disappointed, angry, wanting to throw me out of the house."

Her mum chuckled. "No…I'm…I can't blame you."

"What?"

"I was smoking in the delivery room the day you were born. You've grown up around smoking.

When you were little I never thought it might affect you, or your sister."

"I just…I found it in your coat pocket. I wanted to make the bad thoughts go poof."

She laughed again, but stopped quickly, as if she wasn't supposed to do it. "I shouldn't have told

you that."

Lily chuckled.

"Are you hungry?"

"A little."

"I think the hot dog stand is still open."

"But mum…you've cooked."

"I told Petunia and dad to go ahead and start without me."

"Okay."

Lily stood up and buried her head in her mum's chest as they walked back down the street

towards the town square.

"So tell me, what's wrong with this James Potter."

Lily sighed. "He's a bigot."

"Is that so?" Her mum laughed. "You know, I thought your dad was a bit of a bigot too when I

first met him."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Stop it."

"What?"

"I'm not marrying James bloody Potter."

Her mum laughed so loudly Lily thought she must've disturbed multiple neighbours.

"I love you, Lily."

"I love you too, mum."

* * *

Sirius stood in front of the family tree tapestry, following the golden threads binding together his so-called family. Andromeda had been burnt off, obviously, her daughter wasn't even on there.

There was a time, in what seemed like a different life, that Sirius had believed this to be the truth. When he believed this really was his family. He'd asked his mum about the burn marks when he was 6. His mum had told him they were because of people who had been mean to them. When he was 10, Andromeda ran away, and Sirius thought maybe his mum wasn't right. He knew Andromeda had betrayed his family, but she'd never been anything but nice to him and his brother. Now, he knew she wasn't right, and he knew that someday he'd be burnt off that tree too.

Then something caught his eye; he hadn't noticed it before. It'd been a while since he'd looked at the tapestry though, usually it just made him feel sick. A small burn mark. Celine Black. He remembered the photo in the prefects' office. Celine Black and Thomas Myers. Their smiles. All that was left of her on the tree was a name.

"Thinking about rejoining the family?" Regulus remarked dryly.

"Never." Sirius turned. Regulus was almost as tall as him now, with the same piercing grey eyes and black hair. They could have been twins.

"Then what're you doing?"

"You don't know of a Celine Black, do you?"

Regulus wrinkled his nose. "Have you found another Muggle loving friend?"

"No. She's old now," Sirius said, ignoring his brother's sneer. "She's been burnt off the tree." He

didn't mention the photo.

"Then she probably did something to deserve it."

Sirius huffed. "Maybe mother will know."

"Don't ask her." He thought there was almost something begging about the way Regulus said it.

"She's in a good mood."

"When has she ever been in a good mood?"

"Seriously, Sirius, I heard her singing." Regulus leaned in as if he was sharing a secret. They way he used to when they were little and he'd found there were leftover biscuits in a cupboard.

"No way." Sirius almost smiled. He couldn't remember smiling in this house since he started Hogwarts.

"It's dinner, mother told me to come get you."

"Eat up." His father urged. Sirius picked at his food. It was delicious, of course, that bloody house elf could at least do that right. He still couldn't get Celine out of his mind, but he'd promised Regulus to not bring it up.

"I'm going to bed." He tried standing up, but his mother grabbed at his sleeve.

"You'll stay until we dismiss you."

Sirius sat back down again. He closed his fists hard and his nails dug into his palms. Still, it wasn't enough to stop him blurting it out.

"Who was Celine?"

There was a clutter as his mum dropped her goblet and the wine spilled from it. Regulus had stopped, his fork on the way to his mouth.

"She was the first traitor," his mum said quickly. "Ran off and married a Muggleborn."

"Thomas Myers." Sirius filled in. He knew he shouldn't have, but once the floodgates had opened, there was no turning back.

He thought his mum was going to curse him. Then she stood up, slowly, towering over him.

"Get out." She grabbed him around the neck. "I don't care where you go. As long as you disappear. You've been a failure since day one, everyone knows it. I should have let Bella finish you off years ago."

She pushed him out of the dining room and stood still in the door frame.

"Get away." She waved her away from him as if he was something that smelled really bad.

Sirius turned around, he thought he'd stumbled over his own feet, until he felt the glowing pain in his cheek. His mother straightened up again, looking very pleased. Sirius turned and started down the hallway as fast as he could.

"I was up in your room." Her voice was calm and collected now. "You knew behaviour like that would get you thrown out. You were trying to ruin Christmas."

Sirius didn't turn, and he couldn't help but smirk at the thought of his mum's reaction to the new posters he'd put up in his bedroom. She'd never been thrilled about the half-naked girls, but the Gryffindor banner had been the last straw.

He threw the door shut behind him and stepped onto the square. A thin layer of snow was on the ground already and more was falling from the sky in large flakes. He looked down at his hands; his fingernails had drilled so hard into the palm it had drawn blood, which was now falling onto the snowy ground.

He felt lightheaded thinking about what he'd just done. He was on his own now, he'd dreamed about this moment for years, but now that he was faced with it, his legs threatened to fold under him. He stretched out his hand and within seconds he had to falter out of the way for the purple bus.

"Mr. Black. We're here." The conductor led him off the bus in front of the large stone house.

He walked slowly up towards the entrance. Step by step, his legs still shaking. He saw the Potters through the sitting room window, and sped up his pace.

"Sirius, what happened?" The front door slammed open before he'd reached it. James was standing in the opening.

"I ran." Sirius hurried his steps up the stairs to the entrance and James threw his arms around him. Sirius buried his face in James' shoulder, not knowing if he was laughing or crying.

Mr. and Mrs. Potter had come out in the hall too; Mrs. Potter was smiling, and Mr. Potter's forehead was creased in worry. And behind them, standing right in the door frame between the sitting room and the hall, was Marlene.

"Hi," Sirius said as he broke free from James' hug.

Mrs. Potter hurried towards him, tears in her eyes.

"Oh Sirius. I knew I shouldn't have let you go." She held him in a tight embrace. "I had a bad

feeling about it, but your mother…oh god what did she do?"

"I'm okay." Sirius mumbled into her hair. "She slapped me, but that's it."

"Oh wait until I get my hands on her," james muttered from behind him.

"No. James." His mum locked eyes with him. "No one's getting revenge for this. The important

thing is that Sirius is all right. You are all right, right? Are you hungry?"

"Some hot chocolate would be good," Sirius admitted.

"Of course. Go sit down and I'll whip some up." Mrs. Potter went towards the kitchen. "I'm so

glad to see you, Sirius."

* * *

"Sirius is staying here, right?" James watched as his mum mixed milk and cocoa together in a pot.

"Of course." She poured it out in five cups. "What else can we do? It would be a nice tale for the ministry if we sent him to an inn." She scowled. "Where they could go at him with all they had."

"Thank you, mum. I promise, we won't make any trouble."

"I'll believe that when I see it." His mum laughed.

"I'll do my best."

His mum hugged him tightly and kissed his hair. "You're the best son a mother could ask for," she whispered.

"I know," he whispered back.

"And you've certainly got your dad's self assurance." She chuckled, waving her wand and making the cups float in front of her as she walked towards the sitting room.

Sirius and Marlene were on one of the couches, his dad on the other.

"It'll be good if you keep a low profile for a while," his dad told Sirius as they entered. "I'm not saying you're at risk but -"

"- but my family has been known to teach people a lesson if they don't agree with them."

"Precisely."

"Thank you." Sirius took one of the cups Mrs. Potter set down on the table.

"You'll stay here, Sirius, we'll put together a room for you as soon as possible." His mum sipped on her cup of chocolate.

"Thank you, Mia."

"Come to think of it, I'll go make sure Tippy puts a bed in order." She stood up.

"I'll owl Dumbledore, he likes to be updated on where his students are." His dad stood up too.

"So what happened?" James straightened up on the sofa.

"We were having dinner, and I asked about Celine, from that portrait."

"Sirius…" James shook his head slowly.

"But I guess the Gryffindor banner I put up in my room didn't help either."

Marlene and James gasped.

"Well I needed to do something. I couldn't just tread water in that house forever."

"I mean…I'm glad, but Sirius, that was a really stupid thing to do."

"James is right," Marlene said. "You know they'll want revenge, because you got away so easily."

"I won't do anything stupid," Sirius promised.

Neither Marlene, nor James, looked like they believed him.

"Keep a close eye on him, James. He's gonna do something stupid." Marlene smirked.

"Hey shut up." Sirius smiled at her.

"Oh yes he's definitely gonna do something stupid." James agreed, he too smiling.

"You guys are so mean." Sirius pouted.

"James, stop being mean to your friends." Mrs. Potter entered the room again, smiling. "Sirius,

you'll be sleeping in the bedroom next to James'."

"Thank you, Mia. James was teasing me horrendously."

"I was not."

"You were too."

"Monty and I are off to bed, but call us if you need anything. I think Tippy is still up, she'll

make more chocolate if you want it."

"Thanks, Mia."

"Mum." James stood up. "I need to talk to you."

"Of course, darling."

"Whatever is wrong?" His mum asked as he pulled her up the stairs towards their bedroom.

"Am I the only one who thinks they ought to be more…torn up?"

"Marlene?"

"And Sirius. He just lost his family for Merlin's sake and he's acting like it's any Friday night. And Marlene, I thought she'd break down by now, but she hasn't. Her mum was killed, I

don't…if you…I wouldn't be able to get out of bed."

"James, darling, calm down." His mum put a hand on his shoulder. "Marlene's breaking down more than you think. Otherwise she wouldn't be sleeping here. But everything takes time, and I think she's still trying to deny it. I know I am."

James had almost forgot his mum had lost one of her best friends. He'd been so caught up trying to grasp the reality of it himself that he hadn't noticed his mum's grief. Even though he knew Mrs. McKinnon was gone, he hadn't accepted it yet. He kept expecting them to go to the McKinnon's house on Boxing day and everything would be like it'd always been. Sitting around the fire in the living room, half of them propped up on the sofas' armrests because there were never enough seats for all of them, talking late into the night. Then, once everyone else had gone to bed, James and Marlene would be the only ones still in the living room. Mrs. McKinnon would tell them to turn off the lights before they went to bed (which they never remembered to do) and they'd sit and talk, finishing off the snacks on the coffee table.

Except they wouldn't.

Instead, on Boxing day's night, Marlene would show up on their doorstep in her night gown after another day of pretending she was fine, so that her siblings could stop pretending they were.

"And Sirius…it really just happened. And they haven't been his family for years, he's been prepared for this for a long time."

"But - "

"But you know what the biggest difference is." His mum kissed the top of his head. "They're not

as sensitive as you are." She held him close to her. "And I love that you're sensitive. That's why you're going to make some girl - "

"Lily Evans."

"Right, that's why you're going to make Lily Evans very happy some day."

James smiled, burrowing his head in her shoulder.

* * *

The chocolate cups were empty, spread across the sitting room table. The fire in the fireplace was still sparkling and the snow had started falling outside the window again.

"You know," Sirius said. "You would almost believe we're in a Christmas movie."

Marlene looked questioningly at him.

"You know, those that Muggles watch. We're in the place just before Father Christmas flies past on a sleigh and the credits roll."

Marlene chuckled. "So, what's happened up until now?"

"Oh, family drama, Christmas being cancelled, probably a failed marriage or two."

"Sounds pretty accurate."

"It does, doesn't it." He leaned back on the couch, crossing his arms. "Aren't you going home?

Your dad will be worried."

"As long as I'm back before they get up…"

Sirius frowned at her.

"I've been sleeping here, for a few days. They haven't noticed yet."

"Wha…why?"

"I just…couldn't sleep at home." She pressed her lips together, doing her best not to well up.

"Are you alright?" Sirius put his hand on hers.

She shook her head, almost unnoticeable. From the corner of her eye she could see him looking at her. She couldn't look back, kept her gaze steadily on the snowflakes falling outside the window.

"Sorry," she croaked out, blinking the tears from her eyes.

"No…" He put his hand on hers. "It's fine."

"You know…" Marlene turned to him. His eyes met hers, how had she never noticed his eyes before. She was caught off guard when he lifted his hand and stroked a tear from her cheek. A tear she hadn't even noticed falling.

She put her head on his shoulder, tears falling rapidly down on her jumper. She snuggled up on the couch, folding her arms around her knees and watched as, one after one, tears fell, each one leaving a small, dark stain on her jeans. Then she looked up, her eyes meeting Sirius' again; her vision was blurry with tears, but she still recognised the smirk on his lips. It was normal, and that felt nice. Everything had been so upside down lately that it was nice to know some things hadn't changed.

She couldn't remember the last time she'd cried. When Mary had gone to Hogsmeade with Cody, she'd acted like all she wanted to do was cry, but she'd never shed a tear over it. She was glad, looking back at it, that she hadn't. That wasn't worth crying over. She might have cried, with the knowledge Mary had won the game, had Sirius not come to her rescue. Sirius. Without ever saying anything about it, he'd always been there for her. That night, at the Quidditch pitch, after her very first practise with the team. It'd started raining, and she'd convinced him to come stand in the rain with her. He'd done it, of course. Then - she hadn't allowed her mind to wander there in so long, to what almost happened.

She looked up at him, imagined what it would feel like if he leaned down and kissed her, then she lowered her gaze again. She was being silly, of course she knew that. That'd been months

ago. Still, she couldn't help imagine.

"We should probably go up to bed," Sirius suggested.

"Mhm." Marlene was pulled from her thoughts.

He grabbed her hand and helped her off the sofa.

"Hey, you ok now?" He asked, pulling a strand of hair from her face.

She nodded.

"Good." He put his arm around her waist and led her up the stairs.

"Thanks," she whispered. "For everything."

She was sure he didn't understand.

It wasn't until she'd changed into her pyjamas that she realised. When she'd let go of him to open her bedroom door, he'd lingered.

* * *

The house was packed, like every Christmas day. Peter thought it'd started once his dad had passed away. His mum had said it was because his dad had never liked crowds much, especially not when there were wizards involved. Apparently they were 'noisy'. Right now Peter couldn't disagree. Every inch of the house was filled with people he didn't know how he related to, all of them wanting to talk to him. About school, his mum, his friends, their job, his dad. Peter didn't feel much like talking at all.

He'd thought maybe he'd be able to find Patrick somewhere in the crowds, but so far he'd been unsuccessful. In fact, the only other person under the age of forty seemed to be his cousin's newborn baby girl. He didn't even know if Patrick was supposed to be there, it was just as much a shot in the dark as it'd be to wait at the entrance to Diagon Alley in the hope he might show up. So he did what he'd done every year since his mum stopped keeping too close an eye on him.

He went out through the back door.

The garden wasn't as packed as the inside, most of the guests knew they wanted to stay away

from it by now.

"Peter!" One of the uncles raised his bottle of Firewhiskey as Peter approached the mouldered picnic table at the back of the garden.

"Hi."

Peter didn't know how old the men were, but they had to be over sixty. One of them hugged him, his breath smelling of cigarettes and alcohol.

"You want some?" Another offered, holding up a, yet to be opened, bottle of Firewhiskey.

He didn't know if he'd accepted, but he must've because suddenly he was sitting on top of the table with a bottle in his hand. As he swallowed down the first gulp his throat burnt like it'd been set on fire, but the feeling softened and was replaced by a sensation that he could manage anything his heart desired. He wished Patrick were there right now, he might dare to ask him what he was playing at. He took another gulp. In fact, he wished all of Hogwarts could see him. Right now, he was in his element. He wasn't just some silly bloke that trailed after the popular gang. He was the popular gang. He put the bottle to his mouth again and swallowed down a few more gulps.

"I'm gonna do a cartwheel!" he announced to the group of men, standing up.

He hadn't expected he'd be so shaky on his legs when he felt so confident, but he fell over in the grass. He was struggling to stand up. Somewhere, someone was laughing. He thought it was one of the men. Maybe.

Actually, it seemed to come from the other end of the garden.

"BENNET!" That was his mum. Oh god, that was his mum.

Peter tried again to stand up.

"Did you let him drink it?" She grabbed Peter by the arm and pulled him up.

"Calm down, Coleen, he's grown up."

"HE'S FIFTEEN."

"I was drinking when I was fifteen."

Peter felt his legs shaking underneath him.

"God, Peter." His mum half carried, half dragged him towards the house. He thought she stopped

to yell something else at the men, but he wasn't sure.

The next thing he knew, he was lying in his bedroom. There was something cool on his forehead and his mum was rummaging his closet.

"Put these on. You can't show yourself like that, you're all muddy." She turned to him, holding out a set of clothes. "How're you feeling?"

"Dizzy," Peter admitted.

"I'll be right back. I'll just go beat up uncle Bennet."

At that moment, Peter couldn't remember if 'uncle' Bennet was his mum's brother, or her uncle, of if he was even related to them in the first place. He did know that uncle Bennet would think over his decisions very closely in the future. His mother was short and plump, but she was stronger than she looked.

Peter knew that, because he'd been present for many of his mother's 'corrections' as she'd called them when he was little to try and shield him. Nowadays she said she'd beat them up, believing he was old enough to face the truth. But not old enough to drink, apparently. He didn't enjoy the spinning sensation or the shaky legs, he had to admit, but he'd enjoyed the carelessness and bravery that'd come with it. He'd felt like a true Gryffindor.

* * *

Her mum appeared in the crowd of people hurrying left and right to pick up luggage.

"Dorcas, darling." Dropping her suitcase, she pulled Dorcas into a hug.

When her mum had owled her two weeks before Christmas to say she had a gap in the calendar and was able to come home over the holiday weekend, Dorcas had to go to Professor McGonagall's office and explain that she wouldn't stay for the Holidays after all. When she was younger, she'd been angry when her mum couldn't get time off work so she could go home for Christmas or Easter. Now she knew her mum valued her career just as high, if not higher, than she did her daughter and instead she cherished the times her mum did come home. Her job was a 24/7 one, she hadn't had a proper holiday since long before Dorcas could remember. When she was really little, her mum had shipped her off to her father and his new wife every summer, thinking she'd enjoy staying in their cabin by the beach. It became clear that didn't work when Dorcas turned 5, and since then she'd seen countless nannies and babysitters, the occasional aunt, and a lot of time spent alone.

"Do you have your things?"

Dorcas nodded towards the luggage cart.

"Where are we staying?"

It had been years since her mum had cancelled the lease on their apartment; since then they'd been living in hotels every time her mum was in town.

"The Bentley." Her mum had let go of her and searched the hall for the chauffeur Dorcas knew

was there to pick them up. "I stayed in their hotel in New York in September. Beautiful place." She waved at a man in a black suit.

"Ms. Meadows?"

"Yes."

"Come this way, please."

"So…how's school?" They'd had Christmas pudding sent up to their room. Dorcas was sitting propped up on the bed with the silk bedding that probably cost a lot more than was reasonable and her mum on the chair by the desk.

"It's good."

"Is Ivy still hanging around with…"

"Louise? Yeah."

Her mum nodded. "That's too bad." Dorcas didn't know if that was because it meant she needed to find somewhere for Dorcas to spend the summer or because she genuinely cared. "She was such a sweet girl."

Dorcas agreed. Ivy was a sweet girl, and she tried to still see that part of her, but it seemed to get smaller each day that went by.

"We have a new DADA teacher." Dorcas changed the subject.

"Seems like there's a new one every year."

Dorcas nodded and put a forkful of pudding in her mouth.

"Have you heard anything from your father lately?"

Dorcas knew she was just trying to make conversation, and that it wasn't her fault her father wanted nothing to do with her, but the reminder still stung.

"You know I haven't." It came out sharper that she'd intended it.

"Right." Her mum looked down at her hands.

The last time she'd talked to her father had been when she was twelve. Just returning from her first year at Hogwarts, she excitedly started telling her father and his family about all the fun things she'd been doing. His new wife, never a fan of Dorcas' magic to begin with, went white and attempted to cover her son's ears. When her mother came to pick her up, they'd all gone into the living room, leaving Dorcas outside in the hall. Her mum had told her it had been decided she shouldn't see her father for a while.

Weeks had turned to months that turned to years. Now, Dorcas had accepted that her dad wasn't in her life anymore.

* * *

Her dad was still excitedly observing the charmed Christmas display she'd given him. Father Christmas rocking from side to side, hands on his big belly, and the elves hurrying around beneath him, collecting gifts and feeding the reindeers, and snow falling from just above making the landscape look as if it was being sprinkled with icing sugar.

Petunia was still scowling, sitting in the corner of the couch as far from the display as she could, and chewing at the edge of a piece of Christmas fudge.

"This is magnificent, honey." Her mum looked at her. "Did you do this?"

"I had some help from Mr. Flitwick."

"Mr. Flitwick." Petunia snorted. "What kind of name is that."

Lily bit her lip trying to refrain herself from spitting back, knowing her mum hated their bickering.

"Okay." Her mum leaned over and grabbed another gift from under the tree. "This one is to Petunia, from aunt Carol."

Petunia grabbed the gift and opened it without much enthusiasm.

"That's nice, isn't it honey?" Her mum enthused at the sight of the pearl bracelet. She sounded

like she was talking up a questionable gift to a four year old so they'd say thank you. Petunia nodded, lips pressed together. "It goes very nice with your necklace."

Petunia looked up and proudly showed off her neck. She'd spent all day enthusing about the nice presents Vernon had got her before he left to see his family for Christmas.

"Why don't you just marry him." Lily muttered under her breath.

"If you must know." Petunia sat up straighter with a pointed look at Lily. "We have spoken of it."

Lily masked her laughter at Petunia's unnaturally formal presentation of the subject with a coughing fit.

"I was going to wait until it was official to tell you, but since Lily brought it up. I'm moving to London."

"But…why?" Her mum had stopped midair in getting another present from under the tree.

"There is nothing left for me to do here. In London I'll be closer to Vernon and there's a job as a secretary at his firm, so don't worry about that."

"Petunia, you're so young," her dad tried.

"I'm no younger than you were when you left to sell tea." Lily saw the determination in her eyes. Petunia hadn't ever been as stubborn as Lily, but she had her moments. Lily knew she had set her

mind on this.

"I thought you said you'd wait until you were married." Her mum had gone very white.

"Plans change." Lily had never heard her sister be so free with change of plans.

"Can't you at least wait until the summer?"

Petunia bit her lip. "I have an apartment. I'm not going to pay rent if I'm not living there."

"You have an apartment?" Lily thought her dad might pass out.

In her nightgown, Lily walked down the stairs, hoping she didn't wake her parents.

She shouldn't have worried. The kitchen light was on and the door ajar. Through it, Lily could hear her parents' hushed voices.

"She's my baby, Henry. I'm losing my baby."

Lily peaked in through the crack in the door. Her mum was sitting at the kitchen table, a glass of sherry in front of her, while her dad stood by the sink washing the dishes. Normally, her mum wouldn't trust her dad even to cut up a slice of bread.

"I know, Susan," her dad replied. "I know."

"I wish she'd talk to us. She always used to." She lifted the sherry glass and took a drink.

"She's growing up."

"Remember when she used to come home from school? She'd come running in the door,

bursting to tell us about everything she'd done. When did it all go wrong?"

"You know that as well as I do, Susan."

Lily did too. It was the day McGonagall had showed up on their doorstep. Of course, Lily already knew everything about Hogwarts, but McGonagall told her it was still standard procedure. Petunia had taken one look at the witch in the doorstep, screamed and run to her room. She had refused to come down until late that night, after Lily had already went to sleep. That, Lily realised later, was the moment she'd lost her sister. It didn't matter where she lived or who her boyfriend was, in Petunia's mind they hadn't been sisters since Lily was eleven.

"Sometimes, I wonder…"

"I know…I do too."

Lily didn't want to stay and listen anymore. Nothing they could say would make her feel better.

She noticed the small white and red box on the hallway table. She leaned over quickly and grabbed it. She flipped the lid open and let one of the cigarettes fall into her hand. Really, her mum hadn't told her not to smoke. She'd just said she was sorry about the example she'd set.

She creaked the front door open just enough to slip out, hoping her parents were too preoccupied to notice.

Petunia's bedroom window was dark. It felt unfair that she was sleeping soundly while their parent's world was falling apart.

Lily knew Petunia would want her to feel it was Lily's fault. That she was moving away to distance herself from her world. But Lily was just angry.

In.

She was angry Petunia was still holding onto her grudge.

...

Out

...

She was angry she had made their parents this upset. In. She was angry Petunia tried to blame it all on Lily.

...

Out

...

She was angry she hadn't had a sister in years, without realising.

...

Out

...

It wasn't until she'd put out the cigarette and kicked it into the bushes so no one would find it that she noticed the goosebumps on her arms and how stiff her hands had become in the cold. She folded her arms across her chest, considering going back inside. She hoped her parents would've gone up to sleep now, she didn't want to see them right now.

"Lily?"

She stopped on the spot and felt like a deer in headlights. Her dad was standing in the

kitchen door frame, looking at her. "What're you doing?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd get some air."

"Lily, I know you and Petunia haven't been getting along too well lately." Lily thought that was the understatement of the year. "But this must be very upsetting for you anyways, her deciding to move away."

"She's eighteen." Lily shrugged. "She can do whatever she wants."

"I can see you're hurting, honey. I just wish you'd talk to us, instead of sneaking out in the

middle of the night."

"I didn't sneak out. I stepped outside the door for some air."

Her dad smiled tiredly. "Still, you must need to talk about this."

"Really, dad, it's okay." Lily made a move to go upstairs but her dad pulled her into a hug.

"Dad, what're you doing?" Lily giggled as he tickled her neck.

"I just don't wanna lose you."

* * *

Alice found herself alone in the kitchen with her mum on Boxing day morning once her dad had rushed off to work. It was like it used to be when she was little: Her mum at the sink doing last night's dishes, Alice at the kitchen table.

"Mum." She looked up from her breakfast cereal. "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course." Her mum continued to rinse the pot under the running water. Alice had never known why she always did the dishes the Muggle way.

"Why did you marry dad?"

Her mum turned to her, turning the tap off. "Why do you ask?"

"Just…wondering." Alice stirred the cereal with her spoon. "It just seems like he's always deciding what you should do, like you couldn't do that for yourself."

"Oh, I don't know." Her mother sighed and sat down opposite Alice at the table. "It was just the

easy choice, I guess. Remember, Alice, I was nineteen. All my friends were getting married left

and right, I wanted to fit in, and my parents…well, you know how your grandmother is; they

wanted me to have the stability."

"But why him?"

"It wasn't a big town, he was a family friend and he seemed nice enough."

"Did you love him?" Alice bit her lip, not knowing what answer she wanted.

"I think that I thought I did. Then…" Her cheeks blushed. "Then I met Stanley. Now, Alice, this isn't something I encourage, but Merlin. Stanley, he was everything your dad wasn't. He was adventurous, spontaneous, fun; he sent my head spinning in a way your dad never did."

"Why did you still marry dad then?"

"It was just the right thing to do at the time. I thought I needed someone stable and reliable, Stanley was none of that." Her mum looked almost embarrassed. "So I settled for your dad, the way everything was planned out."

"Did you? Need someone stable."

"I would've gotten by without it," her mum admitted. "But if I had, I wouldn't have you." She

took Alice's hands in hers. "And I love you so much."

"What about working?" Alice blurted out. "I mean, I overheard you talking about it with your

friends. About how you wanted to work at the Ministry when you grew up, but that dad didn't

like the idea of his wife working, so you chose to just be a wife."

"Alice, can I ask you about something now?"

"Yeah."

"Why the sudden interest in this?"

Alice looked down at the cereal swimming in the milk.

"Is there someone…"

Alice bit her lip. "Do you know the Longbottoms?"

"Of course. Very nice family." Her mum nodded knowingly, a smile dancing on her lips.

"Well…their son, Frank, is my class."

She looked up at her mum, who was smiling widely.

"That's so nice."

"I really like him," Alice admitted

"So what's the problem?"

"I'm scared."

"What do you have to be scared of?" her mum asked.

"What if I end up like you?" Alice knew it sounded rude, but her mum didn't seem to take any

offence by it.

"You're a lot stronger than me, Alice." Her mum looked regretful. "You would never allow anyone to take you away from yourself the way I did. Besides, times are changing. When I was young it wasn't as normal for women to be working after they got married."

Alice didn't know if that fact made her feel calmer.

"I know your father is a little…traditional in his views, Alice, but he loves you. Really. He just wants you to be happy."

Alice doubted it. She knew she really didn't need her father's permission to do anything but was it wrong to want him to support her in her decisions, whatever they were? Everyone else's dads seemed to.

"Now, do you like Frank?"

Alice nodded.

"Then don't worry about all this now. You're sixteen, you should be worrying about how to

sneak past your father and me that you're smuggling Firewhiskey from our storage. That wouldn't work though, so don't even try," she added as a side note, eyeing her. "You shouldn't be worrying about marriage, that shouldn't even be on your mind right now."

"Apparently dad thinks it needs to be."

"That's because." Her mum leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "He hasn't seen nearly

enough of you to know what a capable young lady you are. He thinks you need saving the same way your poor, old mother did."

"You're not old."

"That's very nice of you to say." Her mum chuckled. "You know, your dad won't be

home until late, why don't you go look in the library if you find something you'd like reading. I expect you've finished the ones you got for your birthday already."

Alice smiled. "Was that you?"

"I might have pulled some strings." Her mum smiled, stroking Alice's hair.

"Mum." Alice stood up but stopped in the door.

"Yes?"

"You won't tell dad any of this, will you?"

"Not until you're ready," her mum promised, still seated at the table.

* * *

"Are you sure you'll be okay?" His mum touched his shoulder affectionately.

"I'll be fine, mum, I'm fifteen."

"But it's so close to the full moon."

"Don't worry about it."

He knew his mum never stopped worrying, the ageing lines around her eyes revealed it.

"I just don't think you should be alone, it's Christmas."

Remus didn't point out that, really, Christmas had been two days ago, because he knew

Christmas was hard for his mum. She hadn't been able to spend it with her family since Remus had been bitten, they claiming it was all because she married a wizard.

"I'll see if Peter wants to come over," Remus promised.

"Well…then." His mum looked around as his dad put a hand on her arm. "There's food in the

fridge, you just need to heat it up. We'll be home by midnight." She kissed his forehead.

"Sorry you had to come over." Remus played with his food, looking up at Peter. "Mum didn't want me to be alone."

"No, it's fine. Didn't mind getting a break in 'the lecture of all things that go wrong when you act irresponsibly'."

"Merlin, that sounds more like something Prongs would get. What did you do?"

Peter bit his lip, smiling slightly. "I drank Firewhiskey."

"Really?"

He nodded.

"How was it?"

"It felt so good. I felt like…like I could do anything. Then mum came, and it all went to hell." Peter rolled his eyes.

Remus laughed. "I don't doubt it."

"Do you think your parents would mind?"

"The drinking? I don't think they'd notice."

"How couldn't they?"

"I mean, they notice everything. But everything will also be written off as having to do with the

transformation."

"Mhm." Peter shuffled a piece of chicken into his mouth.

"I mean, I love them, but I think they love me too much."

"How could they love you…too much?"

"I don't know…I've just, ruined their whole lives. Mum can't even see her family anymore because of me. Dad can't work like he used to because of the moves. Honestly, they should've just put me out in the woods as soon as I was bitten."

"Moony!" Peter looked at him. "Don't say that."

"Why not? It's true."

"But, then we wouldn't be friends. Who would keep us the least bit healthy?"

Remus scoffed, letting out a short laugh. "You need me to be healthy?"

"Okay…out of detention then." Peter laughed. "You done?" He nodded at Remus' plate.

Remus nodded.

"Wanna play chess?"

* * *

The sound of the front door flying open echoed through the house into the dining room.

"What was that?" His dad put down his fork.

"Maybe it was the wind." His mum's eyes flickered towards the hall.

"Didn't sound like it."

"It was probably just Sirius coming home." James stood up, going towards the hall.

It was Sirius, but not the same Sirius that had left to stock up on potions ingredients. He was still

standing in the doorway, blood dripping from his face.

"God, Sirius." He hurried forward. "MUM! - what happened?"

"Ran - into - some - family." His lip was bleeding heavily.

"MUM!" James called again, just as both his parents appeared in the doorway. His mum gasped

and put her hand over her mouth.

"Oh god, Sirius."

"Something's wrong!" James whimpered.

"Nothing's wrong." Sirius coughed up some blood. "They just beat me up."

His mum was beside him now, grabbing at Sirius' arms.

"Come on, sweetie. We'll get you cleaned up." She started leading him up the stairs, James

trailing behind. He'd never been good around Sirius when he was hurt, even if it was just a black

Eye. He couldn't stand the thought that one time he might not make it through. Generally he kept

his head clear in crisis, but Sirius touched a raw nerve.

In the bathroom, Sirius was sitting on a stool, his mum dabbing at his eye. He held an icepack to

his lip. It appeared to have stopped bleeding. James went over and sat down on the tub edge.

"What happened, mate?"

"I told you - " He winced as the wet towel touched at his eye. " - I was going out of the apothecary, and Bella and Wilkes showed up, they must've been waiting for me."

"They just jumped on you?"

"Well…no."

"Sirius?" His mum looked up from the warm water bowl.

"I couldn't not fight. I'm not a coward!" Sirius clenched his fists.

"It's not cowardly to not get yourself killed." His mum looked straight at him. "You can't throw

yourself into stupidity."

Sirius looked at the floor, like a child that was being told off. "I won't."

James didn't believe it. He loved his best friend but Sirius had a serious lack of impulse control.

"James?" The bedroom door creaked open, Sirius' silhouette appearing in the crack. "Are you sleeping?"

"N - " James yawned. "Okay, yeah. You woke me."

"Well you're awake now then." Sirius strutted into the room, his comforter wrapped around him.

He climbed onto James' bed, leaning against one of the bedposts.

James laughed. "What do you want?"

"I couldn't sleep." Sirius admitted, folding his arms across his chest.

"I think there are some painkiller potions in the cupboard downstairs." James made a move to get

out of the bed.

"No, it doesn't hurt…"

James sat up.

"Could I just…stay here? I don't want to be alone."

"Of course, Sirius." James swallowed the lump in his throat at seeing his brother so vulnerable.

Sirius lay down on the bed, his face turned towards the window. In the moonlight shining through James thought he saw a wet tear rolling down Sirius' cheek, but when he didn't say anything, James ignored it.

"Hey?" James was almost about to fall asleep again when Sirius spoke. "Is Marls here?"

"I think so…" James couldn't remember her coming into the house, but he was sure she had.

"Maybe she just went in without us noticing."

"Mhm…" Sirius' mumble was quiet, as if he was just about to fall asleep.

* * *

The large stone mansion came into view at the end of the stone laid path. There were a few other guests coming up the path, but they were mostly friends of Mr. and Mrs. Potter; Alice thought most guests she'd want anything to do with would arrive once dinner was over.

The large entrance hall was lit up and a large fountain had been placed in the middle of the room. Tall glasses were danced around it, filling one after another as the guests passed by. A house elf took their coats and instructed them to continue up the stairs to the first floor.

"Alice." Marlene came up to her, her long hair pulled back into a low ponytail. "Hi."

"This is…something."

"We've gone all out." Marlene laughed. "Come on, the others are in here." She grabbed Alice's arm and pulled her towards a room off the side. Alice turned, looking at her mum, who smiled at her before slipping her hand into her fathers' and going into the large party hall.

"What's happening? Where're we going?"

"To the fun." Marlene smiled, pushing a door open with her elbow.

The room was huge. The large four poster bed merely seemed like a small decorative piece in relation to the size of the room and a group of sofas and armchairs were standing on the large carpet in the middle of the room.

"Fortescue!" James raised a glass.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" Sirius was sprawled on one of the sofas, leaving no room for anyone else.

"Too much testosterone in here." Marlene gestured, going over and pushing Sirius' legs off the sofa and sat down.

"You've practically been living here for two weeks. Now all of a sudden we're too manly for you?" Sirius frowned at her.

"You're not too manly." Marlene rolled her eyes at him.

"I am too."

"Yesterday you cried to 'It's A Wonderful Life'."

"I had something in my eye." He glared at her.

Marlene huffed, laughing.

"Have you heard from Lily?" James looked at Marlene.

"Have I told you that I've heard from her?" Marlene took another sip of her drink.

"No…"

"Then I haven't heard from her. Have you, Al?"

"I think she said she'd be with Snape." Alice tried not to pull a face, but she must've failed.

"See, even Fortescue thinks he's a tosser." James gesticulated wildly at Alice.

"I don't think he's a tosser. He's just…bad at making decisions."

"No, I'm bad at making decisions." Sirius pointed to himself. "Snivellus is just plain bad."

"You know who's good at making decisions though? Lily. If she's friends with him, it's because

she's getting something out of it. There must be a side of him that we don't see," alice said.

"That's rubbish." Sirius huffed, crossing his arms.

"Oh so you're not different here than you are at school?" Marlene challenged.

Biting his lip, Sirius' eyes lost their confident glow and he lowered his arms.

After being ushered out of the room by Mrs. Potter for dinner, most of which Alice spent next to one Mr. Shafiq who wouldn't shut up about his opinions on Muggleborns' admission to Hogwarts, James led them across the hall into the ballroom. Three large crystal crowns were hanging from the high ceiling and through the windows along the walls you could see the last of the December sun disappear behind the horizon.

More guests were filling the space rapidly, Alice seeing more than one Hogwarts student in the mix. There were loud cheers from James and Sirius as Peter and Remus came through the door, and glasses were placed in their hands. Alice had been given a glass too, of something that most likely wasn't butterbeer. An orchestra in the corner of the room was playing a jazzy tune and it made the whole room appear to dance. Alice stayed close by Marlene, not feeling confident enough to roam the room on her own. She nodded politely at the relatives, friends and acquaintances Marlene was chatting with at an increasingly rapid pace as the evening passed.

"Marlene? Are you okay?" Alice grabbed at Marlene's arm and dragged her to the side once

she'd said a very high-pitched goodbye to an aunt.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She was still talking very quickly. Her hair was falling into her face and her forehead shining with sweat. "I mean…this is fun, right? Everyone's very nice, wanting to know how we're getting on, but really they just want me to say we're good." Her voice was rising in pitch.

"Come on, let's go get some air." Alice felt like she was half carrying, half dragging Marlene out of the room.

She ended up standing outside the ballroom, not knowing where to go next. She could take her outside, but it was pitch black and freezing, it didn't seem like a good idea.

"Alright, Fortescue?" Alice didn't think she'd ever been so happy to see Sirius.

"I…Marls needs some air. I'm not sure…"

"Well I think the patio is still lit." Sirius walked up and put his arm around Marlene's waist, helping support her as they started down the stairs.

Alice was so focused on getting Marlene away from the party that she didn't notice him coming up the stairs until she tripped on the end of his robe, sending her tripping and stumbling down a

few steps.

"Sorr - " She looked up, and couldn't help laughing.

"Hi." Frank smiled at her.

"Hi." She stopped laughing, looking at him.

"Are you going somewhere?"

"Er…yeah. I'm taking Marls out for some air."

"Oh."

"I'm fiiine," Marlene said from behind her.

"I - " She turned to look at Marlene, who was leaning towards Sirius' shoulder for support.

" - really need to take care of this."

She thought he looked disappointed.

"I'll be back, just need to make sure she doesn't…fall over." Alice helped Sirius straighten Marlene up.

"Okay, that's fine."

"Did you have to be wearing heels?" Alice muttered as Marlene stumbled down the stairs.

"You're 5'9''."

"You're just bitter you didn't get to go with Frank." Marlene giggled.

"Shut up."

"You luuuv him."

Alice bit her lip.

"Ladies. You're about to enter the magical place that is the Potters' back garden. Are you ready?" Sirius had his hand on the back door handle.

"I've been here before, tosser." Marlene pushed the door open.

Stepping outside was cold, but not as cold as Alice had expected. Rather than the bitter cold of a mid-winter night, it felt like a mild breeze. Bubbles of soft yellow light were floating just above their heads, lighting up the stone laid patio. The jazzy music from the ballroom was floating out through a window standing ajar and echoed through the night.

"Wow." Marlene fell into a patio chair.

"Now, you stay here. I'll go get you a glass of water. Alright, McKinnon?"

Marlene leaned back, smiling.

"I'm sitting down, I'm getting air. You go get your man." Marlene turned to Alice once Sirius

had disappeared into the house again.

Alice smiled. "You sure I can leave you here with Black?"

"Positive." She leaned back in her chair so far the front legs lifted from the ground. Alice caught

her just as she was about to fall over.

"Maybe I should stay until Sirius get back," she suggested.

"Maybe."

It was closing up on midnight by the time Alice was walking towards the ballroom again. She hadn't wanted to leave Marlene until she knew she wouldn't be a danger to herself. She trusted Sirius, sure, but not enough to leave Marlene fully in his hands.

The jazz music was still playing, but the room was more still. The dancing was slower, the music softer, the voices lower. The whole room was already counting down to midnight. She saw Frank before he saw her, getting a drink over by the bar.

"Hi." She tapped lightly at his shoulder.

"I was starting to think you'd left."

"Never." She smiled. "Just took a bit longer than planned."

The band stopped playing in the background before taking up again, playing a Muggle song Alice remembered Lily's dad listening to in the car once.

"Let's dance." She grabbed hold of Frank's hand and dragged him with her, barely giving him time to put down his glass.

There were other couples spinning around the dance floor too, Alice could hear the sound of heels tapping at the floor, but all she really saw was Frank. He spun her around and caught her with his hand when she stumbled and almost fell. She laughed, resting her head on his chest.

"You're a good dancer," she whispered.

"You too."

"You're lying."

"That's true."

Alice giggled.

She didn't know what happened, but they were flying over the dance floor, Alice wasn't even sure her feet ever touched the floor. Frank's hand was on her back, leading her steps.

The song ended and Mrs. Potter came onto the floor, announcing a countdown to twelve o'

clock.

Ten.

All other sounds died down, everyone turning towards Mrs. Potter and counting in tune.

Nine.

Alice looked at Frank, his brown eyes met hers.

Eight.

What was she supposed to do?

Seven.

She couldn't kiss him, could she?

Six.

They were standing like they were about to kiss.

Five.

She wanted to kiss him.

Four.

Oh god she was gonna kiss him.

Three.

She was smiling; he was smiling too.

Two.

Her gaze slipped from his, to her father. God, her father.

One.

She couldn't kiss him in front of her father.

The room exploded in cheers, balloons were falling from the ceiling.

"Happy New Year."

She didn't know what to do. God she couldn't just stand here. She hugged him. Who hugged someone on New Year's Eve? This was just pathetic.

"Happy New Year darling." Her mum hugged her, planting a kiss on her cheek.

"Happy New Year, mum."

"Hi er…"

"Frank." He seemed to straighten up. "Longbottom."

"Well of course." Her mum turned to her for a split second, smiling. "I know your mother."

Frank nodded.

"Darling, we'll be leaving soon, your father and me. If you wanna stay, I'm sure you could Floo

home later."

"No, I'll come with you." She hadn't even noticed her hand was still in Frank's until she let go to follow her mum.

* * *

They heard the cheers from the ballroom as the clock hit midnight.

"Happy new year." He turned to her. They were leaning against the patio wall; he had a bottle beside him on the stone.

"Happy new year." She smiled. "Glad it's over."

"Yeah, 1975 hasn't been kind to us, has it?"

"Really…really not."

"What about 1976? Any predictions?"

"Hoping Lils will come around seems a bit…"

"Premature?"

"Exactly."

"She'll come around eventually though, won't she."

"James needs to come around too though, stop acting like a jerk."

"I'm acting like a jerk, you still like me."

"Maybe I don't have any standards."

Sirius smiled.

"What?"

"You said you liked me."

"Yeah?" Marlene frowned.

"Do you like me?" Sirius knew the question was vague, but he wasn't even sure himself what he

was trying to say.

"Do you like me?"

"You do." He grinned.

"You do too."

"Maybe." He leaned in.

"Why does this only happen when we're emotional or bloody drunk?" Marlene leaned in too.

"Maybe that's just…us."

Their lips crashed together, Sirius didn't know who had initiated it, he didn't know anything anymore. All he was aware of was his hands on her back, turning away from the wall and pressing her closer to him. Her hands ran through his hair. His heart was pounding in his chest, it felt like he'd ran a mile.

"Wow." Marlene was panting slightly.

"Good wow?"

"Nah." She grinned.

Sirius smacked her thigh. "Do you wanna go back in? I think most guests will be leaving."

"Can we just wait a while? I don't feel like talking to anyone yet."

"Fine." Sirius leaned back against the wall. Marlene rested her head on his shoulder.

Sirius bit his lip.

"What…I mean, do we tell anyone?"

"About this?" Marlene gestured between the two of them.

"Are we a this?"

"I don't know, are we?"

"I don't think so."

"Then we don't need to tell anyone, right?"

"Complete silence?"

"Lock it and throw away the key."

"It was just a kiss."

"Maybe."

They were quiet for a while longer before Marlene spoke.

"I - I think 1976 is gonna be good."

Sirius smiled, looking at her. Her hair glowed under the light of the shining bubbles, her lip gloss had smudged, Sirius thought he must have some on his lips, and even in the cold her skin was warm against his. He was warm too, sweating almost, his mind was spinning. Quickly, though not as quickly as normal, he pushed the thoughts away. He did not have feelings for Marlene. She was a friend, a very good friend, who sent butterflies up his throat.

"There you are, bloody hell." James stepped out through the patio doors.

"Sorry mate." Sirius looked up at him, happy for the distraction. "Marls needed to get away for a while."

James nodded, sitting down next to him. "Where did you get that?" James nodded towards the bottle beside Sirius. "Mum and dad took any alcohol right off me."

"Turns out they weren't as observant at 11:50." Sirius shrugged.

Marlene giggled.

"How drunk are you?"

"Less than her."

James grabbed the bottle and took a sip from it.

"What resolutions do you have?" James asked.

"What?"

"You know. Things you wanna change this year."

"Oh…" Sirius bit his lip.

"I wanna eat vegetarian!" Marlene announced.

"Good luck." James rolled his eyes.

"No, it looks like fun."

"Vegetarianism 'looks like fun'?" James furrowed his brows.

"Yeah, I'm gonna be a vegetarian," she stated.

James and Sirius chuckled.

"What about you, Prongsie?"

"You know what he's gonna say." Marlene mumbled.

"People can change, McKinnon."

"People can." Sirius laughed. "Prongsie can't."

"I can too! And, for the record, I think she might be coming around."


End file.
